Mass. State Police have faced years of scandals. Can it win back the public’s trust?

Massachusetts State Police are trying to gain back the public’s trust.

After years of high-profile scandals, misconduct and systemic failures — including a recruit’s death during training last fall and derogatory texts about Karen Read sent by a high ranking officer — the department is rolling out a new reform plan under its first-ever outside leader.

Colonel Geoffrey Noble, after 9 months into the job, is launching what he calls an “Excellence Initiative” to restore credibility.

“We’re not afraid of introspection,” Noble said. The colonel sat at a long wooden table at the Framingham department headquarters on Thursday.

“We can’t just sit back … We have an obligation to the extent we can police ourselves,” he continued.

Controversies involving state police have broiled for decades, spanning back to at least 1988 when another recruit collapsed and died during training. About 10 years later, female troopers filed a lawsuit contending a Massachusetts State Police policy that “prohibited pregnant troopers from operating cruisers, wearing uniforms, working overtime and interacting with the public.” And an overtime scandal rocked the department in 2018 — after which a former colonel pledged to restore public confidence in the agency numerous times.

But the scandals didn’t stop.

The training academy again came under fire in 2022 for allegations of hazing and brutal training practices. And since the death of Trooper Enrique Delgado-Garcia during a boxing training in September 2024, the public has waited nearly a year for answers — which could come from a video of the incident that remains unreleased.

Noble declined to provide any further insight into what happened to Delgado-Garcia on Thursday or whether the reforms he’s implementing might have made a difference last fall. He focused solely on outlining current programs, future goals and upcoming changes. While emphasizing the need for the department to be introspective, he made it clear that his remarks would not be retrospective, citing ongoing investigations.

The four main goals of the “Excellence Initiative” announced at the end of June are aimed at improving department operations, increasing community engagement and reinforcing Massachusetts State Police’s public safety mission.

Noble’s goals for the more than 3,000 people sworn and unsworn within the police force are to improve workplace “health and operational excellence,” enhance public trust through more accountability, deepen community connections and reduce violence.

Each goal has a subset of strategies, two of which include the appointment of a new command staff and an independent review by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) of recruit training.

A restructure of captain roles, more department audits of body-worn videos and highly visible public service and engagement are also on the initiative strategy list.

“ … I owe the public, the stakeholders, the elected officials and our troopers, equally, to be out front and say, ‘This is the plan that we’ve developed, and this is the manner in which we are doing business moving forward,’” Noble said.

Proctor, Delgado-Garcia and other controversies

On Thursday, Noble was careful to not link any past scandals to specific strategies of the initiative — such as the case of Karen Read involving former trooper Michael Proctor, the case of Sandra Birchmore or the death of Trooper Delgado-Garcia this past fall.

However, Noble said, “I think in some respects, yes, some of these incidents, very specifically, we are … trying to understand areas where the Mass. State Police can be introspective and say, ‘Yeah, we can do better in this area.’”

Because both Birchmore and Delgado-Garcia’s cases are ongoing, Noble declined to speak on each’s specific circumstances.

He did say, however, in the case of Delgado-Garcia, that the recruit academy “trains to the highest standards.”

“Obviously, safety in doing so — in a safe, positive, productive environment — is rule number one for a big police agency,“ Noble said. ”I have been very focused since day one on taking a hard look at our academy, understanding our procedures at the Academy.“

Delgado-Garcia became unresponsive during a defensive tactics training exercise at the state police academy in New Braintree on Sept. 12, 2024. At the time, Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early said the incident happened in a boxing ring and that a video existed, which has not yet surfaced.

The following day, the 25-year-old from Worcester died at a hospital. State police swore Delgado-Garcia in as a trooper hours before he died.

In May, state police announced a list of reforms for its academy program and said it began the process of commissioning the IACP for an external recruit training assessment. Noble said the reforms will help ensure academy training is “prioritizing the health and well-being of our recruits,” and the school’s boxing program was still suspended at that time.

As for former trooper Proctor — who is continuing his fight to get his job back after he was fired from the Massachusetts State Police in March, and is currently in the midst of an appeals process — Noble said there are “things in that case where the state police can improve upon.”

“… we understand that, and I understand that, and we are looking at those areas,” Noble said.

Proctor was found guilty of violating two Massachusetts State Police regulations — unsatisfactory performance and alcoholic beverages — by a State Police Trial Board after three full days of hearings between January and March. Noble accepted the board’s recommendation at the time to terminate Proctor.

The trial board found Proctor sent “derogatory, defamatory, disparaging and/or otherwise inappropriate text messages” about Karen Read as lead investigator on her case to other individuals. Proctor made fun of Read’s medical conditions, joked about searching her phone for naked pictures and said he wished Read would kill herself.

The board also found that Proctor provided “sensitive and/or confidential information” about Read, potential witnesses, and/or potential investigative steps in the case to non-law enforcement personnel.

“We’re going to make sure that some of the elements of our Excellence Initiative are designed to ensure that the Mass. State Police … learns from these issues and puts real mechanisms in play to make sure that our troopers are properly trained, properly equipped, properly prepared,” Noble said.

Specifics in those trainings were not outlined Thursday.

One of the initiative’s strategies to target better department oversight and consistency was already put in place this past spring, Noble said. This was the “redistribution of captains’ ranks.”

Before this strategy, many captains had unmanageable workloads that made it difficult for the captains to provide troopers at their barracks with proper support, necessary equipment and resources, trainings and high standards of operation.

That can all be achieved now through the restructuring, Noble said, which created a more balanced distribution of responsibilities so each captain has a manageable span of control.

But again, Noble said these changes weren’t related to any specific case.

‘A brighter future’

Noble was sworn into the department at the beginning of October 2024, after a 30-year law enforcement career that spanned time as Lieutenant Colonel of the New Jersey State Police.

While he’s the first person who was not internally hired to lead the Massachusetts State Police, Noble said he has lifelong ties to Massachusetts.

His first job as a police officer was in college on Nantucket and his father, grandparents and other family are from Boston and other areas of the state. He was also raised nearby in Rhode Island and spent summers on Cape Cod.

Noble said that he was fully aware of the public mistrust issues in Massachusetts when he was hired, and that he was eager to tackle them.

“The citizens of Massachusetts have come, rightfully so, to expect the best from all law enforcement, and in particular the Mass. State Police,” Noble said.

“So, when these issues have occurred — whether they be individual acts by the individual troopers, or some of the issues that have been more of a systemic issue involving multiple troopers — that let-down, that disappointment in the Commonwealth for the Mass. State Police is going to come at a higher price than maybe another department, which doesn’t have such high expectations,” Noble said.

“When … [we] fall short of meeting that expectation, there should be a response. I understand that — that’s why I’m here,” he continued.

“That’s actually why I put my hand up for this job …. I said, ‘I believe in being part of that brighter future.’ I’m willing to move my family and be part of it, and put my name on the door and say, ‘We’re going to do this together,’” Noble said.

Noble promised to be “open” and “report findings” throughout the implementation of the “Excellence Initiative,” and said that they’ll share reports like the IACP assessment “as appropriate.”

The new colonel’s statement was in stark contrast to the department’s actions in 2015, when Massachusetts State Police was named the most secretive public agency in the U.S. and given the annual “Golden Padlock Award” by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).

But Noble also says this initiative “is not an end game,” and most important will be community feedback.

“This only works if we get feedback from the community, whether it’s through our legislative or elected officials, the media or community members themselves … we want the feedback as we provide information,” Noble said.

“I don’t sit here and think that the Excellence Initiative is the answer, but it’s a plan, and it’s a reflection of after my first nine months … this is a start, and we’ll continue the process to learn and evolve.”