A Northeastern University professor who found a persistent and widespread discrepancy in how often Massachusetts police ticket white drivers and drivers of color is questioning the analysis of a report released by the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
That report, made public Tuesday, included an analysis of the same data and found “no support … for a pattern of racial disparity in total Massachusetts stops.”
“I think, clearly, there are some pretty large differences in terms of mainline findings from my report and the EOPSS report,” says Matthew B. Ross, an associate professor of public policy and economics at Northeastern.
“At best, one could imagine that those differences are driven by the fact that there were some relatively non-standard decisions made in the analysis process,” he says.
Ross questions if those decisions were made to shape the overarching findings in the report.
“At worst, given that EOPSS is really working in partnership with the research team, I think it raises questions about the integrity of the entire process,” he says.
