By John L. Micek
masslive.com
BOSTON — The new head of the scandal-scarred Massachusetts State Police vowed Friday to improve public trust in the statewide law enforcement agency and to build bridges with the communities it serves.
Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble, a three-decade veteran of the New Jersey State Police, took the oath of office during a brief ceremony at the State House in Boston Friday.
“I am ready to get to work,” Noble, who started his law enforcement career as a summer officer on Nantucket, said shortly after Gov. Maura Healey swore him into the job.
Noble, who was born and raised in Rhode Island and spent much of his childhood on Cape Cod, faces towering challenges as he steps into his new role.
Massachusetts’ statewide law enforcement agency faced fresh calls for reform earlier this year in the wake of revelations of text messages Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the high-profile Karen Read murder trial, sent.
Last month, Healey announced she’d asked Noble to conduct a review of all of the agency’s training programs, in the wake of the death of a trooper during a training exercise, MassLive previously reported.
Asked about the agency’s challenges, Noble said “the most important function for me right now is to extend myself, go back to go out and talk to stakeholders and listen.”
And that includes hearing from not just “the folks that are going to tell me all the great things … but also to listen” to the agency’s critics.
“Based on the responses, and based on the issues that are raised, I will work collectively with the command staff, and we will … address the challenges that we see,” he said.
Noble sidestepped published reports that he’d been the target of at least four discrimination complaints during his tenure in the Garden State.
The man can be heard refusing to provide identification and ordered the trooper not to come near him; when the trooper grabbed his arm, he started to attack him with a knife
I did not have the luxury to wait to see a gun,” the officer testified. “We are trained that hands are going to harm you and hands are what are going to kill you”
A Pima County Sheriff’s deputy pursued the man in a car and later on foot after the man allegedly threatened to kill someone; the deputy was shot in the leg during the pursuit
Use a portable power station to quickly and quietly charge radios, smartphones and power lighting and other devices when other power sources are not available
Those complaints claimed he’d bypassed qualified candidates of color, women and LGBTQ individuals for promotion.
“In law enforcement, after a long career, I approached personnel decisions, I approached the morale of the agency under the one, driving belief that a healthy organization is one in which the men and women who have served in that department in any capacity, feel that they belong, feel that they are supported, [and] feel that they can come to work in an agency regardless of [their] background and their experience,” he said.
Asked about those complaints, Healey said “everything was reviewed,” adding that she’s confident that Noble will “reflect and further” the administration’s “[commitment] to diversity and inclusion … that [is] very important to us.”
“And our mission is to make sure that he is empowered and the team is empowered to make changes that need to be made,” Healey said.
Noble was named to helm the agency after a national search led by a search committee and executive search firm, Healey’s office said in a statement last month.
Noble currently lives in New Jersey. He served with the New Jersey State Police from 1995 until his retirement in 2022.
He replaces interim Col. John Mawn Jr., who has overseen the agency since Feb. 17, 2023. Both Noble and Healey on Friday thanked Mawn for his service.
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