Salem Arrests Plummeted Under Stay-At-Home Orders

SALEM, MA —Salem police made 381 arrests between Jan. 1 and June 22, putting the department on pace to fall far below the 1,347 arrests it made in 2019.

Salem Police Chief Mary Butler released the arrest data to city council to show the breakdown of arrests by race since 2016. But the data also shows the impact stay-at-home advisories during the coronavirus crisis had on crime in Salem.

"There was definitely a reduced number of arrests and activity during the March to May time period before places began opening and people resumed to a bit of normal life with some guidance and restrictions," Butler said in an email. "The pandemic also reduced lots of activities including house gatherings/parties, motor vehicle traffic and reduced persons in retail locations, etc. We are definitely seeing a return of these things and increased calls for service now, especially with the weather being warmer."

For comparison, 77.17 percent of Salem's 43,873 residents were white, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimates show 5.91% of the population is Black, 2.04 percent is Asian, 0.56% is Native American, 4.46% identifies as two or more races and 9.84 percent is listed as "other."

"We don't ask people their race or ethnicity, it is based on perception only, so I can't with any degree of certainty without digging much deeper into each arrest the accuracy of the information or if the individual was black, dark complexion Latino, Pacific Islander or other," Butler said. "I also cannot say without further research on the arrests if all of the arrests were people from the Salem community in any of the categories identified. However, with some time to attempt to review these arrests closer, we could identify some of this information, but it would require a review of each individual person's data."

Dave Copeland covers Salem and other North Shore communities for Patch. He can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).