75 from Massachusetts State Police 89th Recruit Training Troop graduate

According to Dave Procopio of the Massachusetts State Police, seventy-five members of the Massachusetts State Police 89th Recruit Training Troop (RTT) will take their Oath of Office and be pinned with their badges Thursday as they graduate from academy training and become Troopers. 

The new Troopers are currently being sworn-in by Governor Healey during graduation exercises at the MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St., Springfield. 

Governor Healey addressed the recruit class, in addition to Colonel John Mawn Jr., Interim Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Detective Lieutenant Jeffrey Johnson, Commandant of the Massachusetts State Police Academy; and State Representative Carlos Gonzalez of Springfield, House Chairperson of the Joint Committee on Public Safety.

The 75 Trainees have completed six months of intensive training at the MSP Academy, located in the New Braintree hills. Trainees lived at the Academy from Monday through Friday of each week, undergoing a challenging academic course load, grueling physical training, and instruction in a wide gamut of police procedures and tactics. 

The curriculum included criminal law, motor vehicle law, firearms law, criminal investigation, patrol procedures, sexual assault investigation, OUI enforcement, ethics, domestic violence response, animal cruelty investigations, de-escalation techniques, use of force policy, fair and impartial policing, communication skills, and critical thinking.

RTT members also received intensive training in physical fitness, first responder medical aid, defensive tactics, firearm and less-than-lethal weapon use, and emergency vehicle operation. 

Additionally, a hallmark of Massachusetts State Police recruit training is a program of scenarios that simulate the types of calls and incidents to which Troopers respond. The members of the 89th RTT were put through 80 separate scenarios.

In all, RTT members underwent 1,095 hours of active instruction and training. 

Upon their graduation all new Troopers are assigned to Barracks within the Department’s Division of Field Services; all begin their careers as road Troopers, patrolling state highways, roadways, and parklands, and assisting local police departments within cities and towns whenever needed. New Troopers serve a one-year probationary period, during the first three months of which each of them will partner with a veteran Trooper Field Training Officer. 

Of the graduates, 68 are male and seven are females. One-third of the 75 graduates are persons of color. 

14 members of the 89th Recruit Training Troop have served their country in the armed forces.

Two of the graduates were members of the MSP’s inaugural Cadet Program, which exposes qualified young adults to Department operations as civilian employees and provides an alternative path into a Recruit Training Troop for those who successfully complete the program and pass the Civil Service exam.

Just under 50 percent of the 89th RTT has prior sworn law enforcement experience with other agencies. Several members of the RTT are bilingual, and one member speaks three languages.