Some Baltimore City Council members want fewer police patrolling around Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. But Mayor Catherine Pugh rejected the idea at her Wednesday news conference.

“First of all Hopkins does not exist on an island," she said. "It’s not 20 miles outside of Baltimore.”

 
Members of the council’s budget and public safety committee, reacting to reports of police staff shortages,  made the request after a meeting Monday night. But Pugh emphasized the need for officers to patrol the neighborhoods around Johns Hopkins’ campuses.

“Everybody deserves protection. Every area of our city deserves protection," she said. "As far and wide as we can provide the service of our police department to our community we will do so.”

Earlier this year, the General Assembly turned down legislation to allow Hopkins to have a private police force on campus; something Pugh was in favor of.

“If you look around the country, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, all of these other private institutions they all have their own police forces on their campus," she said.

Hopkins officials say they will try again in the next General Assembly session, which starts in January.