Dr. Paul Joyce

I was a police officer for over 31 years. My first three years were with the Dedham Police Department, where I gained valuable formative experience. I then joined the Boston Police Department, where I would serve for the next 28 years. Much of my career was spent working in the areas of street gangs and homicide, and for the last 14 years of my career I was a superintendent overseeing special operations, criminal investigations and training and education. Looking back on my career, I feel very fortunate to have fulfilled this lifelong goal.

In 2017, I earned my Ph.D. in criminology and justice policy from Northeastern University. My dissertation, "Street Gang Membership in Boston: A Life Course Perspective," focused on 28 former Boston gang members active from the late 1980s through 1990s and examined their life experiences from childhood through adulthood. The primary goal of the research was to identify the transitions and turning points that caused this group of serious and violent offenders to either desist from or persist in criminal behavior over their life course.

Before coming to Salve Regina, I was the director of the homeland security studies graduate program at Endicott College. In my role as chair of Salve Regina's Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, I teach policing, oversee faculty and direct curriculum development, assessment and evaluation, advising, budget and strategic planning.