Baltimore needs Hopkins’ help on crime

On Wednesday’s front page of The Sun, there was a story dealing with the vacancies in the Police Department (“Amid Baltimore's persistent violence, police department failing to fill 500 patrol officer positions,” Feb. 6) It is reported that there are an estimated 500 vacancies and that the department had a net loss of 36 officers in 2018. The article goes on to describe Baltimore “as the most murderous big city in the nation."

On the second page of the same edition, there was a story of hoops that the Baltimore legislative delegation is making Johns Hopkins go through to establish its own police force (“Johns Hopkins police force bill contains funding for youth programs, requires oversight from two boards,” Feb. 5). It would seem to me, based on the front page story, that a more logical approach for the legislators to take would be to say, "Thank you very much, we need the help, how fast can you do it."

Ken Gelbard