Originally Posted by trel

Training wreck: Review calls state cop academy flawed
By Maggie Mulvihill
Friday, April 7, 2006

The Massachusetts State Police Academy is badly mishandling the oversight and training of new recruits, a failing that could put “a gun and a cruiser” in the hands of the wrong person, according to a six-month independent review of the agency obtained by the Herald.
The review raises the specter that continued poor management at the New Braintree facility could lead to unqualified state troopers with “the wrong values” being set “loose on the commonwealth.”

“Academy training staff members are not provided the proper training and education to design and run a cutting-edge program,” the 50-page report by the nine-member Massachusetts State Police Academy Commission said.
The panel, headed by former Essex District Attorney Kevin M. Burke, was appointed in October by Col. Thomas G. Robbins, commander of the 2,300-member state police force, after reports of hazing, high dropout rates and other problems rocked the academy.
While emphasizing that training staff are for the most part “professionals who are sincerely dedicated to their work,” the report described an academy leadership beset by “confusion, inadequate communications and poor oversight of training operations.”
As a result, the report said, the academy training staff itself is plagued by “role conflict, confusion, uncertainty and ineffective communications.” In addition, the report says, too many deficient cadets are allowed into the academy, “taking scarce training seats from better qualified personnel.”
In an interview yesterday, Robbins said he is already putting some panel recommendations in place. “It is always good to have a set of external eyes,” he said. “This is the blueprint we are going to work from. The No. 1 priority is for us to get the best qualified candidates trained for the state police.”
Robbins said the department has added staff to the academy by reconfiguring other parts of the force, brought in drill instructors from the Army to help with training and developed a “clear supervisory chain of command” reporting procedure for staff.
The Herald reported in September that recruits said a drill instructor forced their heads into a dirty toilet, and another aspiring trooper said he was forced to wear a classmate’s soiled underwear.Robbins transferred three academy staffers after the allegations.
The academy also lacks a commitment to “leader development,” is hampered by chronic personnel shortages and is beleaguered by a flawed recruit-screening process, the panel found. As a result, candidates enter the New Braintree facility without the physical or mental strength required to withstand the rigorous 26-week program.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...format=&page=1

Originally Posted by nirtallica

The changes have already been implemented and the SPA is just as tough as ever! Please, don't start posting BS articles from the Boston Herald. They don't have a f*&^ing clue! If you believe all their BS, well neither do you. The only other changes I see happening are the PT standards to enter the SPA. That means it will be even harder!

Originally Posted by Pvt. Cowboy

Interesting how the Herald cites problems such as hazing and high drop-out rates are plaguing the academy along with role confusion and a general lack of communication, yet in another sentence it speaks about how the academy accepts less than qualified individuals for the PT. So where is the major malfunction? The academy? Or those that aren't qualified enough to make it through week one?

Originally Posted by SGT_GRUNT_USMC

I say B.S.This is all about politics and CYA.The Massachusetts State Police already has one of the nation's toughest and best police academies, why fix something it if ain't broke.So what if some recruit washouts had their feelings hurt.


Semper Fi,

Originally Posted by topcop14

If they are worried about poor training they should look at the MCJTC Academies.
I have never had a desire to be a trooper, but I would have given my left nut to receive the quality of training that they get. The MCJTC is a joke.

Originally Posted by topcop14

If they are worried about poor training they should look at the MCJTC Academies.
I have never had a desire to be a trooper, but I would have given my left nut to receive the quality of training that they get. The MCJTC is a joke.

Originally Posted by topcop14

If they are worried about poor training they should look at the MCJTC Academies.
I have never had a desire to be a trooper, but I would have given my left nut to receive the quality of training that they get. The MCJTC is a joke.

Originally Posted by Rock

I've done the local academy and the SPA and the two shouldn't be spoken about in the same sentence. I saw a "student officer" in the local academy I wouldn't trust him to take out my trash. (I think he was actually slow ...no joke). They held his hand and pushed him through. The reason he was pushed through is his town paid almost $2500 to get him there plus the cost of gear. Scary. The only way you leave the local academy is if you commit a crime and that happened as well.

Originally Posted by PBC FL Cop

MSP still has the meanest looking DI's.

Originally Posted by spunk639

The MSP doesn't get it, it is not the USMC and Troopers are not at war with the citizens of Massachusetts. They have been very lucky, but how long will they continue to gamble, do you think that when some recruit drops dead, because a Trp. who thinks he or she is R. Lee Emry or Nicholson in a Few Good Gen goes overboard, that the AG or AUSA isn't going to show other academies as a standard? WTF. The days of training like this are over, yeah it is wrong that they are, but we're in the minority thinking it should go back to this. Did it produce better cops, yes. The standards were harder, yes. People who didn't belong weren't on the job,yes. But today we live in a soft, pansy, Oprah, Starbucks double latte soft mochaito cream world. Not too long ago it was coffee cream or black. Not any more, this state is left of the left of Kerry and Dean are you kidding me. Politicians the elected voice want a soft, PC, multi cultural, diverse kinder and gentler policing community, they've won.

Originally Posted by spunk639

The MSP doesn't get it, it is not the USMC and Troopers are not at war with the citizens of Massachusetts. They have been very lucky, but how long will they continue to gamble, do you think that when some recruit drops dead, because a Trp. who thinks he or she is R. Lee Emry or Nicholson in a Few Good Gen goes overboard, that the AG or AUSA isn't going to show other academies as a standard? WTF. The days of training like this are over, yeah it is wrong that they are, but we're in the minority thinking it should go back to this. Did it produce better cops, yes. The standards were harder, yes. People who didn't belong weren't on the job,yes. But today we live in a soft, pansy, Oprah, Starbucks double latte soft mochaito cream world. Not too long ago it was coffee cream or black. Not any more, this state is left of the left of Kerry and Dean are you kidding me. Politicians the elected voice want a soft, PC, multi cultural, diverse kinder and gentler policing community, they've won.

Originally Posted by spunk639

The MSP doesn't get it, it is not the USMC and Troopers are not at war with the citizens of Massachusetts. They have been very lucky, but how long will they continue to gamble, do you think that when some recruit drops dead, because a Trp. who thinks he or she is R. Lee Emry or Nicholson in a Few Good Gen goes overboard, that the AG or AUSA isn't going to show other academies as a standard? WTF. The days of training like this are over, yeah it is wrong that they are, but we're in the minority thinking it should go back to this. Did it produce better cops, yes. The standards were harder, yes. People who didn't belong weren't on the job,yes. But today we live in a soft, pansy, Oprah, Starbucks double latte soft mochaito cream world. Not too long ago it was coffee cream or black. Not any more, this state is left of the left of Kerry and Dean are you kidding me. Politicians the elected voice want a soft, PC, multi cultural, diverse kinder and gentler policing community, they've won.

Originally Posted by spunk639

Please don't tell me about "good faith" and other idealistic legal terms that at one point meant protection. I can think of many officers throughout the 80's 90's and now, who acted in "good faith." Brighton Car Chase (80's) Mission Hill Shooting 1975, didn't get resolved until mid 1980's cops lost their shirts city paid big. Now the city limits indemnification. As far as helping the new guys. They come out of the academy and know more than you, or so they think, better yet when you try to give them a little advice they tell you they'll do it their way. Yeah I loved this job, spent many a night in an ER because of it. But I'm not foolish enough to think the following:

1. A boss will support your actions if the suspect is injured, property is damaged, or you needed to use force to effect an arrest.
2. That the city or town will support you for doing your job(arresting people, working etc) the city will complain to your bosses how people won't buy property if arrests are up.
3. That they actually want you to be a police officer.
4. That your guilty unitl proven innocent as a cop. Unlike MSP when your 303 or involved here, your treated like a suspect, read your rights and not given a replacement gun for the one you used.
5. The the flunkies at headquarters if you by chance do your job and the Globe gets wind of it reveal every aspect of your life to the paper. Shameful but done to Tommy Rose and John Mulligan, both heroes.
6. A PC who fires you for working, or being honest thank god he went to England and a certain Capt. has won again, or better yet the bafoon Chief in Quincy who makes him look like Joe Friday.

No my attitude isn't poisionous it is realistic. Police officers that work in the climate we operate in today are taking risks that they can't financially cover or get support for. Am I a 14 percenter as you say, no I am not I am more of a negative 5 percenter, the city could burn down around me, if Iam not sent I do not care. I know of a kid on my job that was given a call for a shooting at 498 ........Rd well it wasn't there, unlike me who would have missled it as unfounded, numb nuts goes to 849........Rd and finds a shooting and a victim and saves the guys life. When he got there he offended somebody and got a tab, he then got tabbed by a PS who said he went off District and found the mess. Got stuck in the house for weeks booking, and a write up. Yeah motives me to work. Sorry I have a bit of a way until retirement and plan to do less and less on the way there .