Hop Cops help defend First Amendment rights during peace protests
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But out in the rain, three Hopkins Security officers huddle under their windblown umbrellas and lightly chat as they lend an unconcerned eye to the protest. Unnoticed and uninvolved, Security's presence is a safeguard against any violent disruptions to the peaceful anti-war rally.
The Monday peace protests in front of the library have become a weekly duty for Hopkins Security officers. At least one officer manages to be present at every campus protest "to ensure [the protestors] are allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights without interference," said Lieutenant Steven Ossmus.
The officers do little more than stand by and observe the protests to prevent hecklers from disturbing the crowd, he said.
"They're always there at the peace protest," said sophomore protestor Joe Harrow. "But they're never in our face."
Less officer involvement is preferred since this means the protest was a peaceful demonstration and that protestors were allowed to practice their right to assemble.
"The Hopkins Security department is present at all rallies on campus to ensure everyone is allowed to exercise their right of free speech and expression without fear of physical confrontation or intrusion," said Security Director Ronald Mullen.
While there has been no unruly opposition at the weekly Monday peace protests, Security is still obligated to provide oversight for the protestors.
"We cherish the First Amendment and we want to make sure everybody is afforded that opportunity," said Ossmus.
But officers are barred from expressing support or opposition to the student protests they monitor, he said.
"Being campus officers, we have to remain neutral in fairness to everyone there," he said. "But that's not to say the officers don't sympathize with the events."
An officer might whisper a word of encouragement to the protestors.
"Sometimes they agree with us," sophomore peace protestor and SLAC member Maha Jafri said. "I really get along with the Johns Hopkins Security guards."
Security rarely needs to send many officers to protests like the weekly rally on Mondays, according to Ossmus.
"We don't need large contingencies," he said. "We haven't had any problems."
Overall, the peace protestors have been careful and have managed not to yell overly loud and remain peaceful, Harrow said. Instead, the protests manage to concentrate more on faculty and undergraduate observations about the war.
"The rallies we've seen on Homewood campus have been quite spirited and loud on occasion," said Mullen. "But our protest rallies and the level of security afforded them are very much like those on the majority of our college campuses throughout the country. It is really only a small number of institutions that have had rallies that turn violent."
Unfortunately, the more violent protests are the widely publicized events, he said. The protests have generally been peaceful except for one heckler who shouted obscenities at the rally.
"Occasionally you'll hear a heckler as they're walking into the library," said Ossmus, "but [it would be wrong] to say we've had any counter protests or anything that would lead to any violence."