Thread by @rollrhu

Well, here’s the @JohnsHopkins police bill draft. Lots of stuff to unpack but I read it alongside last year’s amended bill to see what’s different. (The original bill was so poorly received that JHU had to rework it significantly). THREAD:
publicsafetyinitiatives.jhu.edu/assets/uploads…

2/ For reference, here is the first bill from March 2018: bit.ly/2HNSo30
The amended bill from last year: bit.ly/2FXquj5

3/ There was also a version of the latest draft (possibly a leak?) that circulated this morning. From what I can tell, this version has the bill’s intro text while the latest JHU one doesn’t, haven’t found any other differences yet.
drive.google.com/file/d/1QBxbJn…

4/ The introduction texts are fairly similar in their content. The new intro includes “constitutional and community-oriented policing” and “Civilian Review Board” text. Old intro mentioned LEOBR which new one doesn’t have. Hopkins is choosing new qualities to highlight.

5/ New draft has campus area as property “used for educational or institutional purposes”. At the GRIA meeting, admin said this is just areas where there are student activities but institutional purposes is more vague. Does this include property like the Stieff building by I-83?

6/ Language surrounding police training and conduct is near identical (begins pg 4 on both new and old drafts). As @melissa_schober pointed out already, there’s wording of “promoting” instead of “requiring,” and no mention about working w/ undocumented or LGBTQ community.

7/ New draft includes specifics on the accountability board — 15 ppl including Hopkins affiliates, representatives from “adjacent neighborhoods” to campuses. Hopkins affiliates and neighborhood reps are appointed by University leadership, does this undermine their autonomy?

8/ Accountability Board’s duties are to review and recommend. New draft also says proposed police will be subject to Civilian Review Board. Unclear as to how the CRB will interact with proposed Accountability Board.

9/ Both drafts say JHU will submit annual reports to City Council, Mayor & Gen Assembly. The highlighted text below shows the additional metrics to this annual report from the new draft, it’s a marginal push towards more transparency.

10/ This is all new. Investigations into nonfelon offenses by a cop will first be subject to a hearing. At least 3 voting members of hearing are cops appointed by police chief. Up to two voting members can be from the public. Seems like police could outvote the public every time?

10/ Should the bill pass, the previous draft offered 4 public forums to give feedback on the Memorandum of Understanding. This new draft decreases that to “at least” 2 forums. The JHU website just says 2 forums (publicsafetyinitiatives.jhu.edu/assets/uploads…)

11/ Note: the screenshots are from the morning draft (text is the same as the latest, pg. #s differ). I may have missed/misread some items so let me know where there should be more context or corrections. Recently got bifocals and am relearning how to read 🤓