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December 2021 Community Meeting Notes

Board Members Present: Aaron, Phong, Emma, Corey, Wynn

Staff member: Amanda

Total Attendees: 36

Start: 7:06pm

End: 8:39pm

Agenda:

  • Community Announcements
  • JHU’s VP of Public Safety, Dr Bard
    • Introduction
      • Responsible for public safety for all Johns Hopkins campuses
      • Has a focus on community input and involvement in public safety
      • Hired the first child psychologist for public safety to redirect young people away from the juvenile justice system
      • Trying to take a pragmatic approach to the safety of johns hopkins residents
      • The legislation that allowed the JHUPD has been put under multiple restrictions including jurisdiction, multiple review boards, and civilian oversight.
      • Feels that a bona-fide need still exists for the JHUPD to still be created.
    • Q&A
      • We’re under a pause, what sort of timeline should we expect?
        • No steps have been taken until the pause ends, Johns Hopkins 
      • What steps will you take to address rebuilding relationships in the community?
        • I plan on rebuilding those relationships, the legislation passed provides a meaningful amount of oversight to JHUPD.
      • The language is that the JHUPD is an inevitability, but still describing the current status as a pause?
        • The only steps that have been taken are JHU’s re-engagement with the community.
      • Last time we were engaged by JHU, some misrepresentations were made about crime statistics, why do we need a separate police force if crime is actually down in the area?
        • What we want is a small, progressive, publicly accountable police force. There have been carjackings in the last month in charles village. Our jurisdiction is limited in both scope and types of crimes.
      • Why is the steve silver building not a part of the jurisdiction of the JHUPD?
        • The building is not on the campus proper.
      • What crimes will JHU be able to investigate?
        • Any and all crimes in our jurisdiction can be investigated, although for major crimes wouldn’t default to the JHUPD.
      • Is there a report or data around the support of the JHUPD by the surrounding communities?
        • The legislature and elected officials authorized the JHUPD without support data.
      • You’ve stated that no work is happening on JHUPD, what are you doing?
        • I’m spending my time learning about Baltimore and Hopkins.
      • Was there ever any attempt to address security issues without a police force?
        • This may be a conflation of issues, inefficiencies with public safety and a small, publicly accountable police force solve different problems.
      • How would this prevent crime if police normally respond after the crime has occurred rather than proactively protect people?
        • JHPD and Campus Security is not an either-or, both will be required to deliver a holistic approach for the campus.
      • Are there any studies or documented examples of other instances where implementing a university police force significantly reduced crime?
      • What are the limitations of the JHPD’s staff overall?
        • The legislation limits JHPD to 100 staffmembers, public safety will remain around 1200
      • Under what circumstances would  the JHUPD be indefinitely paused?
        • There has never been a point in which Johns Hopkins has wavered from implementing the police force.
      • Hopkins paused in the wake of police violence, how have you adjusted your practice?
        • I am committed to limiting my force to do harm to citizens. I’ve been given command in the past to forces with a siege mentality and I’ve been successful in reopening ties to the community.
    • Additional Questions
  • Traffic Calming Updates
    • 27th st. and Remington
      • Finally went in, the installation is not quite to the plan but adjustments will be made in the next week.
        • Moving stop bars so that buses can make the turn.
      • Next few weeks will add planters
      • Spring and Summer will bring in planned street art.
      • Turning radiuses limit the possibility of adding speed humps.
    • BRNI grant provided to bring the big jump all the way to Maryland Ave
      • No loss of parking, but will be removing one car lane
      • Speed humps will be installed on 27th and sission, and the bridge will be in the process of being replaced when the big jump is extended, so cutting across will not be viable.
  • 2021 GRIA Recap
    • Home Repair Initiative
    • RHouse Community Kitchen
    • GRIA Peabody Beer Release
    • Facade Improvements
    • Dumpster Days
    • Repair the World
    • Hauntingdon
  • Community Conversation: Neighborhood Goals for 2022

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