Johns Hopkins University signaled it will move forward with disputed plans to create its own private police force as officials announced the appointment Tuesday of a Massachusetts police commissioner to lead institution security.
Cambridge’s top cop Branville Bard Jr. will start Aug. 30 as vice president for public safety, for the university and most of Johns Hopkins Medicine’s campuses and facilities worldwide.
Bard also will “play a leading role in the development and implementation of the Johns Hopkins Police Department,” the announcement states.
Bard’s appointment is the first movement university officials have made in a year toward creating a private police force and comes at a time when students are away from campus. Officials halted plans for the police force last year amid nationwide protests against police brutality toward Black Americans.
Read more from The Baltimore Sun.
Scroll down for more from UB
