Massachusetts State Police

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. At present, it has approximately 2,500 officers and 400 civilian support staff -- making it the largest police agency in the state -- and is headed by Colonel Mark Delaney. Its headquarters are located in Framingham, Massachusetts. Locals sometimes refer to the Massachusetts State Police as "Staties."

1 History
2 Merger of Police Agencies Under State Control
3 Training
4 Special units
5 MSP in popular culture
6 External links
7 Related

[edit] History

MSP patch

The MSP was founded in 1865, making it the oldest state-wide police agency in the United States. The agency remained small and rather informal until 1921, when the MSP was enlarged to comprise 50 officers stationed in barracks across the state with the primary mission of providing law enforcement to rural areas underserved by existing local police agencies. The MSP enlarged its mission to handle primary vehicular regulation on the Commonwealth's interstate and limited-access highways after their development mid-century; during this period, it also established a presence in protecting Logan International Airport.

For much of the twentieth century, the MSP was organized along militaristic lines with a heavy emphasis on the role of the barracks, Spartan working conditions, and a uniformity in appearance and internal culture. Until recently, the MSP maintained one of the strictest regimens for physical size requirements for applicants. Efforts are being made presently to render the department more racially diverse, as well as more inclusive of women and GLBT officers.

The history of the agency is being researched and preserved for the 2010 opening of the Massachusetts State Police Museum and Learning Center. The museum is being made possible by funding of MSP troopers and employees. The museum will be located at the site of the former Troop C2 barracks in Grafton. There is currently a temporary museum at the barracks until construction is completed. Planned exhibits for the museum are

Restored 1931, 1941, 1951 Ford Cruisers
Motorcycles, including a 1963 Harley Davidson
State Police Weapons (past & Present)
Historical uniforms, hats and artifacts
Harvard riot photos and riot equipment
Mounted police equipment and other Equine related items
Original teletype machine
The first computer used by the State Police department
Historic daily station logs
President John F. Kennedy photos and memorabilia
Nostalgic badges and patches

[edit] Merger of Police Agencies Under State Control

In 1992, the former Massachusetts Department of Public Safety - Division of State Police, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Police, Massachusetts Capitol Police, and Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) Police departments merged to form what is currently known as the Department of State Police (an agency within the Executive Office of Public Safety, which is different from the Department of Public Safety). The four former agencies officially ceased to exist on July 1, 1992. After discussions regarding the uniform for the new agency, it was decided that the distinctive uniform and seal of the former Division of State Police would be retained by the newly formed Department of State Police. The ranks of Corporal and Staff Sergeant were not carried over into the new agency. With the merger, many officers from local police departments and members of the original Division of State Police referred to the new state troopers as "Metro Troopers" or "Fake Staties".

The Massachusetts Environmental Police remain a separate entity under the Division of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Environmental Law Enforcement, which is under the auspices of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

As of late, there have been rumors of the State police merging with the MBTA Transit Police.

[edit] Training

MSP police car

Recruit and in-service training for the Massachusetts State Police takes place at the MSP academy located centrally in Massachusetts at 340 West Brookfield Rd. in New Braintree. Prior to the 1992 merger, the Division of State Police's Training Academy was located in Framingham, Massachusetts. This facility now houses the Department of State Police General Headquarters.

Becoming a Trooper is an extremely competitive process. Approximately 14,000 men and women took the written entrance exam in June of 2002. Out of that, only a few hundred were selected to become members of the MSP. After receiving a conditional job offer, the recruit then has to make it through twenty-five weeks of strict paramilitary training as part of a Recruit Training Troop (RTT).

During the twenty-five weeks of training the recruit lives at the academy Monday through Friday. Their day starts early at 5:30 and goes right until 8 p.m. with lights out around 9:30. The recruits attend over ninety-eight academic classes and must pass ten cumulative exams with a passing score of seventy percent. Along with classes, recruits have to take part in daily physical regimens such as running and weight lifting.

The academy takes a toll both mentally and physically on the recruit and many recruits do not make it through. To give an example, when the 77th RTT started in November of 2004 there were 180 recruits. During the first week 44 recruits dropped out and 34 new recruits had to be added in. By the end of the twenty-five weeks only 137 graduated, earning themselves the title of Massachusetts State Trooper. Massachusetts State Troopers are often considered to be the most highly trained State Police officers in the country.

[edit] Special units

Part of the Marine Section's fleet, moored at its base on the Charles River in Boston.

Like many other large law enforcement agencies, the MSP has developed several component specialized units designed to meet the agency's expanding role in policing Massachusetts. These special units include:

MSP S.T.O.P. (Special Tactics and Operations) Team: Serves as the agency's SWAT squad
MSP K-9 Unit: The MSP's K-9 unit deploys approximately 75 highly trained canines to agencies throughout New England for search and rescue, criminal apprehension, narcotics detection, crowd control, missing persons searches, cadaver recovery searches, site security, arson detection, explosive detection, and other missions. Depending on specific mission requirements, members of the canine unit would work in support of, or in conjunction with, other specialized units including the Air Wing, STOP team, Marine Unit, Dive Team, and SERT team. Their services are available upon request, without cost to the requesting agency.
MSP S.E.R.T. (Special Emergency Response Team) Team: Serves as a requestable adjunct to local law enforcement agencies requesting state assistance in civil disturbances, special events, or missing persons searches
MSP Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section
Governor's Auto Theft Task Force
MSP Incident Management Assistance Team & Civilian Search and Rescue
MSP Underwater Recovery Team
MSP Marine Section: The MSP's river patrol on the Charles and Mystic Rivers
MSP Air Wing Section: The MSP's Helicopter Unit. The State Police Air Wing has provided the Commonwealth and its network of first responders with airborne support for over three decades. It is the largest and most comprehensive full time public safety aviation unit in New England. Aircrews stand ready to respond from three strategically located Air Bases within the state 365 days a year.
MSP Motorcycle Unit
MSP Mounted Unit
MSP Crime Laboratory Unit
MSP C.A.R.S. (Crash Analysis Reconstruction Squad)
MSP C.S.S.S. (Crime Scene Services Section)

[edit] MSP in popular culture

A Massachusetts State Trooper features prominently in the Norman Rockwell painting "The Runaway"; Rockwell lived for many years in the small town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The agency serves as a partial-setting for the film Mystic River, in which the characters played by Kevin Bacon and Lawrence Fishburne are MSP detectives.

The Robert B. Parker character Spenser is hinted to have been with the MSP, specifically as a detective with the Middlesex County District Attorney's office. He frequently interacts with an MSP homicide detective named Captain Healy (who also appears in the Jesse Stone novels) and worked with an MSP trooper named Nate Lundquist in the novel Pale Kings and Princes.

Matt Damon plays a criminal who infiltrates the MSP in The Departed. Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Leonardo DiCaprio all portray officers as well (DiCaprio as an undercover).

The Massachusetts State Police are mentioned finding the body of Hank Schillinger on an episode of the HBO drama Oz.