Note: this post originally appeared as an email sent to the Homewood campus community on October 14, 2024.
Dear Homewood Campus Community,
As you know, serious violent crime is down markedly year over year in Baltimore. Despite this downward trend, there has been a recent spate of robberies with which we are concerned. Over the past several weeks, there has been a disturbing increase in a serious crime pattern across the city and near our Homewood campus involving robbery and theft, with some including assault. The university is working to increase our public safety presence in the area, assist the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) in its ongoing investigations, and support the victims.
The pattern involves multiple suspects approaching individuals walking alone, usually late at night or in the very early morning hours. BPD has made multiple arrests, but we must remain vigilant.
Your safety is our highest priority. We immediately increased our public safety presence specifically in areas that have been most affected by these incidents. We have also installed new security cameras in areas frequently visited by our Homewood affiliates who may be walking at night.
We continue to review and monitor security camera footage related to the impacted areas, interview potential witnesses, and participate in daily meetings and intelligence sharing with BPD detectives and senior leadership. University staff have also been in close contact with all victims to support their physical and mental well-being.
You can expect to see a combination of Johns Hopkins Public Safety, including the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD), BPD, and Allied Universal officers patrolling both in vehicles and on foot. We want to ensure that all members of our community feel safe and encourage you to take advantage of our public safety services:
We urge you to err on the side of caution and contact us anytime you feel unsafe. Our team is happy to provide security escort services to students and other affiliates who need to walk to their cars or homes at night. Please also remember to prioritize your personal safety over your property.
The effects of violence ripple far beyond those who are immediately victimized, and we urge anyone who is experiencing trauma related to this or any other incident to take advantage of our well-being resources for students and the Johns Hopkins Employee Assistance Program (JHEAP) for university and medicine faculty and staff.
The Public Safety team is here to support you. If you would like to discuss our response to this recent pattern of incidents and what our team is doing to help all members of our community feel safe, please reach out.
Sincerely,
Branville G. Bard
Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police
Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine