Baltimore, Maryland - February 01, 2019: Stephanie Hollins, senior security systems specialist, monitors the 565 campus cameras in the Homewood Communications Systems room located inside the The Johns Hopkins University Campus Safety and Security Department headquarters Friday February 1, 2019.
Johns Hopkins University, Maryland's largest private employer, is pushing for state approval to create an armed police force with up to 100 officers, citing rising crime near its university and medical campuses in Baltimore. Hopkins notes many peer institutions in the U.S. have long had police departments, and it says the move would lighten the load for the overstretched Baltimore Police Department. The state legislature will consider the bid during its current session. The plan faces opposition from some community members and lawmakers who distrust police because of the Baltimore department's high-profile problems, exposed after the 2015 death of Freddie Gray.
CREDIT: Matt Roth for The Wall Street Journal