Полиция штата Массачусетс: История и современность

Law enforcement agency

The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for law enforcement and vehicle regulation across the state. As of 2022, it has 2,067 sworn troopers and 611 civilian support staff for a total of 2,678 personnel, making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England. The MSP is headed by Interim Colonel Jack Mawn.

The MSP was established by Massachusetts state governor John A. Andrew when he signed a law creating the State Constabulary on May 16, 1865. This legislative act to "establish a State Police Force", founded the first statewide enforcement agency in the nation. The first leader of the State Police was William Sterling King, an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 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. This law enforcement mission was performed by the trooper on horseback, usually, and in motor cars in areas with upgraded roads. 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 20th century, the MSP was organized along military 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 LGBT troopers. Since inception, 47 officers from the Massachusetts State Police and its former agencies which made up its ranks were killed in the line of duty. The earliest death was in 1909 and the latest death was March 3, 2022. In November 2019, Superintendent Gilpin announced her retirement as colonel of the Massachusetts State police after two years in the position.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the MSP issued the Walther PPK as a special assignment weapon. During the 1980s, the .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 65 was issued to the troopers. Different weapons were issued for off duty and special assignments; during the 1980s, a common weapon was the .38 Special Smith & Wesson Bodyguard revolver. The agency issued the SIG Sauer P226 in 9mm from the early 1990s, followed by the SIG Sauer P226 DAK (Double Action Kellerman) in .40 S&W. In 2011, troopers started carrying the Smith & Wesson M&P pistol in .45 ACP. As of 2023, the MSP is replacing the .45 ACP handguns with the SIG Sauer P320 chambered in 9mm. The P320 comes equipped with a Romeo1 red dot optic and a Night Stick 550XL flashlight attached. The P320 is also set on the X Series frame.

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 (commonly known as the Metropolitan 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. 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. The Massachusetts Environmental Police remained a separate entity under the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Environmental Law Enforcement, and later became a separate department level office under the re organised Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. In the early part of the 2000s the MBTA Police discussed a possible merger but it will most likely not happen due to high costs and standards for both recruitment and training.

Troop F patrols and provides law enforcement for all properties of the Massachusetts Port Authority, including Boston's Logan International Airport in East Boston, Boston's seaport district, the Port of Boston, and South Boston's World Trade Center. Until 2010, its only barracks was located within the airport. It moved to a building on the outskirts, allowing for more space, parking, and better access to the property. The Troop F Commander also serves as Massport's Director of Aviation Security.

The motorcycle unit is responsible for dignitary escorts, funeral escorts, prisoner escorts, and many other types of special missions.

The MSP Public Order Platoon, or POP Team, was previously known as the Mobile Field Force. It is an on call team composed of over 500 troopers from various barracks and special units who carry specialized equipment in their cruisers at all times to allow for rapid mobilization. Its primary purpose is deployment for crowd control, public disturbances, and other major incidents at the request of local public safety officials or State Police Commanders. In October 2007, while coordinating with the Boston Police Department, the unit played a large role in responding to riots in Boston following the Red Sox World Series victory. The POP Team also policed many protests during the George Floyd protests.

The State Police K 9 unit deploys approximately 41 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 the SERT team. Their services are available upon request, without cost to the requesting agency. The State Police uses dogs such as Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds, and Belgian Malinoises. In order to become a K 9 officer, one must be on the force for at least 5 years. Troopers also get a Massachusetts State Police K 9 cruiser.

The State Police Mounted Unit is an elite unit in the State Police. It consists of 15 25 police horses. This group of specialized troopers have been on the force for a minimum of 5 years prior to joining the Mounted Unit. The unit is located in Acton.

The Dive Team is composed of specially trained troopers who are trained to provide assistance in the expertise of underwater rescue and recovery.

The Commonwealth is divided into 11 State Police detective units that work out of various district attorneys' offices. Boston, Springfield, and Worcester are the only cities in the Commonwealth that have the authority to investigate homicides. This responsibility is granted through the District Attorney's Office in each city's respective county. According to Massachusetts General Law, all homicides are under the control of the District Attorney in the county they occur. Only the District Attorney can delegate the responsibility of investigating homicides to another party. In Springfield and Worcester, it is the captain in charge of the Detective Bureau, and in Boston, it is the commander of the Homicide Unit. The various district attorneys' offices investigate all other homicides in any other cities or towns. The detective units also investigate many other major crimes and serious incidents.

The detective unit in the Attorney General's office is composed of the drug unit, the computer crimes unit, and various other specialized investigative squads. The unit investigates everything from white collar crime to drug distribution.

The VFAS is tasked with apprehending the commonwealth's most violent and elusive fugitives. The unit works with various local and federal agencies and is part of numerous task forces.

The Gang Unit is a statewide specialty unit established to: suppress criminal gang activity, investigate gang related crimes, and gather intelligence on known and suspected gang members. Gang Unit duties include street level narcotics enforcement, weapons enforcement, criminal investigation, and special operations. The Gang Unit assists local cities and towns by conducting undercover narcotics operations and by providing additional officers to patrols dedicated to combating gang activity in high crime areas. In addition to these activities, the Gang Unit also provides local police departments with personnel, intelligence, expertise, and training specific to battling gang related crime. The Gang Unit maintains partnerships with, and provides gang awareness training to, schools, corporations, social service agencies, probation officers, trial courts, District Attorneys' offices, and civilian groups. The Gang Unit's primary objective is to improve the quality of life of all citizens adversely affected by gang activity.

Specially trained Massachusetts State Police detectives have functioned as State Fire Marshal investigators for more than fifty years. At present, the Fire & Explosion Investigative Section (F&EIS) consists of thirty eight full time members who make up the Fire Investigations and Hazardous Devices (Bomb Squad) units. F&EIS also consists of eight bomb techs, five bomb dogs and five accelerant detector dogs. Each unit has its own self contained command and control structure and a specific jurisdiction to serve. Many of the investigators have been cross trained to assist the other sections in time of need.

As of 2017, the Massachusetts State Police average pay for a state trooper was $145,413, with three troopers earning over $300,000, and 245 troopers (12% of the workforce) earning over $200,000. A trooper's base pay is augmented by working multiple details, directing traffic, overtime shifts, or providing security at special events. Former Massachusetts inspector general Greg Sullivan criticized state police overtime as excessive, pointing out an unusual number of troopers who earned more in 2017 than the governor of the state. He cited the use of state police instead of civilian employees to direct traffic at construction details and Logan Airport as examples of wasteful spending. Sullivan argued that the reason overtime pay is so large is that the troopers who make overtime assignments also partake of the benefits of overtime, leaving no incentive to reduce the practice. In 2017, 24 troopers earned more than $100,000 in overtime, and 20 in Troop F earned more than $250,000, a fact which was not revealed until missing payroll records were noticed by the Boston Globe.

In September 2005, an investigation was begun after allegations of illegal hazing at the State Police Training Academy were brought to light. A recruit who voluntarily dropped out the academy accused the academy staff of water boarding her by placing her head in a toilet bowl. The investigation found that the recruit was told to inspect the toilet bowl after doing an inadequate job of cleaning the toilet. As a result of the investigation, with pressure from then governor Mitt Romney, three troopers were removed from their positions, including the Academy Commandant, Lt. Richard Lane. Other demoted instructors included Troopers Eric Baldwin and Paul Weinshenk. The 78th Recruit Training Troop graduated in December 2005.

In February 2006, a respected state police sergeant, Brian O'Hare, was arrested by the FBI after soliciting what he thought was an underage boy for sex, who was actually an undercover FBI Agent. O'Hare was discharged from the state police and subsequently sentenced to 5 years in federal prison.

In March 2017 the Boston Globe reported on allegations of discrimination within the State Police against minority state troopers.

In October 2017, a state police arrest report of a judge's daughter, Alli Bibaud, was changed to remove an embarrassing and incriminating statement ("Do You Know How Many People I Had To Blow To Get That,") concerning how she obtained the heroin she allegedly possessed. An online news article, written by Aidan Kearney for Turtleboy Sports, listing "many" troopers as sources, allege that the report was changed due to Dudley District Court Judge Tim Bibaud calling District Attorney Joseph Early and Colonel Richard McKeon, who in turn directed Major Susan Anderson to have the statement removed. On November 7, 2017, the trooper who was ordered to change his report, Ryan Sceviour, sued the leadership of the state police for reversal of the discipline he received for including the embarrassing and incriminating statements in his report, as well as an official apology, lawyers fees, and punitive damages. On November 11, 2017, Colonel Richard McKeon retired in the midst of the scandal.

In February 2018, Aidan Kearney, a journalist for the online news site Turtleboy Sports, broke a story that Trooper Leigha Genduso, who was assigned to the K 9 unit, was hired by the state police in spite of testifying during grand jury proceedings targeting her former boyfriend, before her hire as first a civilian dispatcher and then state trooper, that she smoked marijuana daily, sold marijuana in amounts up to 10 pounds at a time, took various other prescription drugs not prescribed to her, and laundered money from her former boyfriend's drug profits. There was also information from "many sources" that Genduso's boyfriend at the time of her hire, then Major (eventually Lieutenant Colonel) Daniel Risteen, used his influence to gain her favorable treatment and highly desirable assignments usually only offered to troopers with many years seniority. On Friday, August 24, 2018 Leigha Genduso resigned from the Massachusetts State Police.

On March 20, 2018, Attorney General Maura Healey announced that her office was reviewing the "apparent discrepancies between overtime paid and actual patrols worked," by 21 state troopers of the Troop E division. Of the 21 state troopers, 19 are active, one retired last year, and another, Trooper Matthew Sheehan, was already suspended due to racist messages he posted online. Colonel Kerry Gilpin addressed the media and said one of the alleged offenders put in for as many as 100 no show shifts during 2016. On April 2, 2018, governor Baker announced the elimination of Troop E due to the ongoing overtime investigation that found dozens of active and former troopers allegedly putting in for overtime shifts for which they did not work. State Police Colonel Kerry Gilpin also announced that location of State Police cruisers will be tracked by Global Positioning System (GPS) technology known as automatic vehicle Locator technology, and the state police will also develop a body camera program. On June 27, 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested three Massachusetts state troopers for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars for overtime work they didn't complete in calendar year 2016. The troopers allegedly took steps to conceal their fraud by altering tickets written to make it look like the citations were issued during claimed overtime shifts. Sometimes tickets submitted by the troopers were fictitious or never actually issued to known motorists. Each of the three troopers were charged with a single embezzlement count.

On March 26, 2018. the Boston Globe reported that payroll records for the 140 trooper Massachusetts State Police Troop F, which provides law enforcement and security for all properties of the Massachusetts Port Authority, have been hidden from public view and weren't filed with the state comptroller for several years. Almost 80 percent of the troopers assigned to Troop F earned more than Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker. Pay for the trooper comes from the Massachusetts Port Authority, but the police troopers are employees of the Massachusetts State Police and operations are overseen by commanders of the State Police. After the Boston Globe report came out, governor Baker said that the act of not disclosing years of payroll records for Troop F of the State Police was "clearly deliberate," and state Comptroller Thomas Shack demanded to know if other state agencies were failing to reveal other payroll records. On March 30, 2018, the Globe reported a Troop F detective, Lieutenant learned more than $300,000 each year between 2015 and 2017. The Lieutenant was the highest paid employee of the Massachusetts State Police for the years 2014 2016.

Mystery Street (1950) features Ricardo Montalbán as MSP Detective Lieutenant Peter Moralas, assigned to the Barnstable County District Attorney's Office, investigating the death of a young woman whose skeleton is found buried in a Cape Cod beach. He seeks assistance from the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. The Departed (2006) is about two spies in the MSP's Special Investigations Unit, with Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) being planted on the MSP as a spy for Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), an Irish Mob boss, while Trooper Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an undercover cop assigned to infiltrate Costello's crew. Director Martin Scorsese asked the MSP if he could use actual logos, badges, and color schemes on the uniforms and the cruisers, but was denied. Ben Benson's series of novels featuring Massachusetts State Troopers such as high ranking Chief of Detectives Wade Paris and rookie Trooper Ralph Lindsey, appearing mostly in the 1950s, were among the earliest examples of police procedurals. When Benson died, another writer, Roy Stratton (the great grandson in law of Charles Dickens) started a new series about the MSP for the same publisher, Mill Morrow, featuring Trooper Scott Gregory; but the series ended after only two books. The agency serves as a partial setting for Dennis Lehane's novel Mystic River and its film version, in which the characters played by Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne are MSP detectives. The Robert B. Parker character Spenser is said to have been with the MSP, specifically as a detective with the Suffolk 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 Brian Lundquist in the novel Pale Kings and Princes. An MSP cruiser comes to a halt at the Wordloaf Conference in The Simpsons episode "Moe'N'a Lisa", having pursued the Simpsons into Vermont (minute 11:50 in the episode). Norman Rockwell's famous painting The Runaway depicts a Massachusetts State Trooper and a young boy at a lunch counter. Rockwell lived in Massachusetts for much of his life. Actual MSP Trooper Dick Clemens is the Trooper portrayed in the painting. The boy's name is Edward Locke. In Edge of Darkness, Ray Winstone's character is killed by a Massachusetts State Trooper. In R. I. P. D., an MSP Air Wing helicopter takes part in the raid where Ryan Reynolds' character is killed. In Patriots Day, an MSP trooper stands guard over Martin Richard's corpse until he can be taken away by ambulance, at which point he salutes. Other troopers appear sporadically throughout the film, and the Superintendent at the time Colonel Timothy Alben is a character in it portrayed by Charles Luise but is simply credited as "Massachusetts State Police Colonel." The Showtime original series City On A Hill features multiple MSP troopers assigned to the Suffolk County DAs Office.