Joseph Gustafson, PhD and Gina Curcio, PhD, both from Salem State University’s criminal justice department, assisted by Francis Olive, PhD from the criminal justice department at Worcester State University, were recently awarded a three-year grant in the amount of $199,524 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) to analyze data on all state and local motor vehicle traffic stops in Massachusetts.
Specifically, their work will include analyzing the data for the state as a whole as well as by municipality, including the demographic information of the stopped motorist (age, race and gender), time of the stop, whether a search was initiated as a result of the stop, and whether the stop resulted in a warning, citation, or arrest.
Should the data suggest that a law enforcement agency appears to have engaged in racial or gender profiling, the agency will undergo additional data collection and be mandated to complete implicit bias training. The team will develop annual reports of the findings and these annual reports will be made publicly available by EOPSS.
This is the first time that the Commonwealth has offered this opportunity and Salem State will have the option to pursue two additional continuation grants of three years and one year, respectively. Additionally, the grant budget includes funds to support two student research assistants.