NEW BRAINTREE — Governor Charlie Baker and the new head of the Massachusetts State Police, Lt. Col. Christopher Mason, made a joint announcement during a press conference at the State Police Academy of significant reforms for the agency after the convictions of dozens of state troopers in a series of overtime scandals in federal court.
Baker proposed new legislation that he hopes will modernize state police hiring, promotions, accountability and discipline within the department.
“Colonel Mason has been working hard to make progress on several reforms, and we are pleased this class of recruits will be the first to go through his new trainings that focus on stringent ethics and community policing,” Baker said. “We are also filing legislation to allow the Colonel to take swift action against Troopers who do not live up to the oath they swore, promote a more diverse workforce and bring Department policies in line with modern management practices.”
He added that the bill will empower Mason to, “take swift action against Troopers who do not live up to the oath they swore.”
Under the proposed legislation, a new fraudulent pay statute will be created that allows state and local government to recover damages when police officers knowingly submit false claims for hours worked.
Baker also proposed steps to increase diversity within the state police, allowing external candidates to apply for the leadership of the force, a streamlining of the process to suspend officers without pay when faced with serious offenses, a simplifying of the process to discipline officers for lesser offenses and the creation of a cadet program as an alternative route to the State Police Academy
Under the leadership of Mason, Baker is looking to restore public trust in the agency. In the last two months, State Police have been instituting ongoing reforms such soliciting contracts for the use of 1,500 body cameras and activating nearly 3,000 GPS tracking devices in Trooper cruisers.
