Before the final vote on Johns Hopkins' bid for its own police force, lawmakers should reflect on the fact that an overwhelming amount of all violent crime in Baltimore City occurs in a small fraction of its neighborhoods (“Johns Hopkins police force bill clears major hurdle with endorsement by Baltimore senators,” Mar. 7). The Hopkins Homewood campus and its surroundings are not part of that fraction. Based in this area, the Abell, Remington and Harwood community associations know this and oppose the university’s bid for its own police department.
Lawmakers should also consider that the Baltimore police need access to all available talent as the consent decree moves forward and a new commissioner sets his course. Hopkins' most impactful contribution to crime reduction in this setting would be for them to return the highly capable officers they have poached from the Baltimore police and let her commitment to recruiting, training and sustaining a model department be put to work for all city residents, not just those under the university's purview.
Jo Ann O. Robinson, Baltimore
