New troopers ‘among the very best’
Class of 168 recruits graduates in Worcester
At a ceremony marked by pageantry and promise, Gov. Charlie Baker congratulated the 86th class of recruits to become state troopers and warned they will be “tested.”
“To graduate from this academy, you have to be a very special person,” Baker told the 168 men and women at the DCU Center in Worcester. “Every single one of these people has been through an extraordinary period of time here, where they have been tested and challenged and, most importantly, trained to be among the very best in the law enforcement community, here in the commonwealth and across the country.”
“This is an enormously honorable and difficult task,” Baker said, one made “more difficult by social media, by cellphones, by all of the public visibility and accountability that comes with public service.
“The flip side of that is, day in and day out, you will have opportunities … to make an enormously positive difference in communities, the chance to support and serve and protect,” Baker said. “Much of that work you do will never find its way into the public domain.”
The state police commander, Superintendent Col. Christopher Mason, also referenced the current atmosphere
of increased scrutiny of police work and the national reckoning with racial justice that has come following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent conviction of a Minneapolis police officer.
“You will be entering the law enforcement profession during a time of great and rapid change, and sometimes wavering public support,” he said. “This alone would be enough to dissuade the faint of heart, but you have distinguished yourself and chosen to step into the arena.”
The 186 were among 216 people who initially entered the State Police Academy in the spring. Seventy-three of the new state troopers come from municipal police departments, 43 have served in the armed forces, and 37% are women or people of color, according to Dave Procopio, a State Police spokesman.
All 186 went through 22 weeks of training and will have 12 more weeks, during which they’ll ride on patrol with an experienced trooper, as part of their one year of probation.
The new troopers come into a force embroiled in a fight with Baker over his vaccine mandate.
At least three troopers have resigned in what is called an “ordinary discharge,” rather than buck the governor’s mandate.