TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y. — The Community Justice Center (CJC) now has two employees working to implement the public safety reforms of Tompkins County and the City of Ithaca.
Matthew Davids has been hired as a Data Analyst for the CJC on Tuesday, bringing to an end a hiring process that began in July 2021. Monalita Smiley, the CJC’s Project Director, has been the sole figure at the city-county collaborative since early 2022.
Davids previously worked as a Data Officer at the Tompkins County Assigned Counsel program, as well as a data officer for Pediatric AIDS TReatment Africa, a collaborative of organizations working to fight HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to an announcement from the county.
The CJC’s 2023 workplan outlines data oriented projects like a traffic study to determine if there’s racial bias in who local police pull over, and a data disclosure plan for the local criminal justice system.
In a written statement released by the county, Davids said, “This role is a great opportunity to make a difference with data — so much of the Reimagining Public Safety work centers around the need to collect and display data in new ways, to help increase transparency and aid in decision-making.”