New UMDPD Chief Boosted Visibility On Downtown Campus Before Monday's Shooting
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Their duty is to protect patients and staff, and Monday, recently bolstered police patrols at the University of Maryland Medical Center could have made all the difference.
UMDPD faces a challenge to protect an open campus in downtown Baltimore and they are operating under some new changes, under a new police chief.
The day after lockdown, the yellow vests and squad cars of the University of Maryland Police are back on the beat.
They are tasked with keeping its medical center's 72-acre flagship campus safe, within a city that's tallied 28 homicides since the beginning of 2019.
"We're very strong on visibility here on campus. So our officers know they have to be out of the cars, they have to engage in our community and be available to our community," said Chief Alice Carey.
Chief Carey rose to her rank eight months ago, and says that's when she boosted patrol visibility on campus.
So Monday, when bullets flew near Shock Trauma, officers were ready, chasing down and arresting their suspect soon after the incident.
"This incident was isolated event. At no time was the general public at risk. The protocols between University of Maryland Baltimore city Police quickly had the hospital on lockdown,"
Those protocols, Chief Carey said, included a multi-layer security approach, including cameras, unarmed security teams, and state certified officers walking the beat.
"They take their job seriously. This was a fire alarm they were responding to. If they didn't respond to that as if that was an emergency, they would have been at the right place at the right time." Carey said.
Eyes and ears all over the open campus as security stays bolstered.
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