Training
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. This facility now houses the Department of State Police General Headquarters.
Becoming a Trooper is a competitive process. Approximately 14,000 men and women took the written entrance exam in June 2002. Out of that, only a few hundred were selected to become members of the MSP. After receiving a conditional job offer, the recruit has to make it through twenty-one weeks of paramilitary training as part of a Recruit Training Troop (RTT). As of April 2009, the State Police no longer administers its own stand alone examination for appointment to the Department. The State Police now generates a prospective list from candidates that take the Massachusetts Police Officer Civil Service examination who elect to be considered for appointment to the State Police; this is the same examination that is used by many municipal departments and the MBTA.
On October 17, 2011, the 80th RTT began training. This was the first class in over five years. Training itself was dropped from the traditional twenty-six weeks to twenty-one weeks after new programs and exams were added that deal with current situations. During the twenty-one weeks of training the recruit lives at the academy Monday through Friday. The 80th RTT class began with 250 trainees, adding an additional 25 trainees in the first 2 weeks of training as others departed the program. Their day starts early at 5:30 a.m. 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 80th RTT graduated a record 208 new troopers on March 9, 2012.
The academy takes a toll both mentally and physically on the recruit and many recruits do not make it through. For example, when the 77th RTT started in November 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 then twenty-six weeks, only 137 graduated, earning themselves the title of Massachusetts State Trooper.
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