Baltimore, MD – Students at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have joined local residents to combat JHU’s push for a state law authorizing it to establish a private police force that will patrol campus areas and neighboring public streets. These “Hop Cops” would report to and serve the interests of the administration and board of JHU. That’s how capitalism works. Workers and students need a system that serves our needs. That’s communism.
These privatized cops would not have even the nominal accountability of Baltimore city police. Hopkins security officers are already known for harassing both Black and Latin students and passersby—but currently they do not carry guns or have full police powers. Adding armed police with the power to stop, arrest, and shoot will intensify the racist oppression in and around the three JHU campuses, with potentially fatal consequences.
The purpose of the move, according to Rep. Elijah Cummings, chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee, who is pressuring state legislators to pass the bill, is to keep the “riff-raff” away from a prominent medical institution that serves wealthy patients like Saudi princes. Cummings is just another racist politician who serves his billionaire, capitalist masters. We need a communist revolution to dump them all in the trash heap of history and put the working class in charge.
JHU mouthpieces have lied to residents and lawmakers alike, misrepresenting crime statistics (crime has actually dropped in areas surrounding Hopkins) and offering sham accountability schemes that would result in a force that is more secretive and more shielded from liability than any municipal police department. Some residents have been talked into supporting the move with the promise of Hopkins creating a model police force that uses “best practices” to make their streets safer. The reality, well understood by community organizers and JHU Students Against Private Police (SAPP), is that the force will be mandated to do what’s best for Hopkins, not its mostly working class neighbors. SAPP and local residents have stepped up to expose the charade at multiple community meetings and public forums, and their organizing is paying off.
Many communities are increasingly voicing solid opposition to the measure, as are JHU students, some 3,000 of whom signed a petition against the private police force. And 75 percent of students who responded to an email survey likewise opposed the move. Faculty and JHU alumni (with the exception of former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Hopkins alum and poster child for racist, aggressive policing) have also responded to a petition drive with a resounding “NO”.
But JHU is the largest employer in Maryland and virtually owns Baltimore. It is tightly connected to corrupt elected officials and capitalist power brokers throughout the city and state. But the impact of the bill will be far-reaching. It will set a dangerous precedent for privatized policing in Maryland, sending the state back to the early 19th century when every capitalist enterprise had its own police force to keep order, suppress speech, and break strikes. As we go to press, the State Senate has approved the measure, and it is now in the hands of the House of Delegates for a hearing and vote. But SAPP and local residents, supported by civil rights groups like Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, will not give up the fight. The stakes are too high. And these local struggles are part of a bigger fight to smash the worldwide rise of racism and fascism with communist revolution.