COLONEL’S MESSAGE
December 2013
81st Recruit Training Troop
The funding is in place - the physicals, psychological testing,
interviews, agility testing and background investigations have
all been completed. Last month, acceptance letters went out to
the candidates. On Monday, December 2nd, 230 candidates will
be reporting to the State Police Academy in New Braintree for day
#1. The process of acquiring a new recruit class is an exhaustive
one that begins almost a year earlier with the budgetary cycle.
The class must survive the Governor’s recommendation, House
Ways & Means review, Senate Ways & Means review, and then
Conference Committee review. While a more practical -- and
arguably a much simpler -- approach would be accounting
for the number of retirees or resignations the prior year and
making provisions for their replacement in subsequent years,
such a proposition has always proven far more complicated and
difficult to achieve. At this time last year, the class was firmly
within our sights and anticipated for June 17th. Those hopes
were quickly dashed when the House version removed funding
required for salaries in the post- graduation period.
In fact, personnel replacement in the last decade has proven to
be anything but predictable. On 9/11, with over 2,200 sworn
members, the general assessment was that the MSP role in
public safety had to become more robust to deal with Homeland
Security concerns. Troopers were added to Troop “F” (Logan) to
deal with increasing aviation security; concerns associated with
the LNG in Boston Harbor and waterborne threats required an
increase presence in the harbor; the Fusion Center was created
with critical infrastructure and anti-terrorist and intelligence
sharing concerns; and the Joint Terrorism Task Force was
created to deal with inter-agency involvement with terrorism
investigations. The demands for personnel and specialty
equipment for large event security has increased exponentially
every year after 9/11. Events like the Boston Marathon and
Fourth of July, once requiring 50-100 Troopers now require
several hundred Troopers. The demands have increased while
staffing since 2006 has significantly decreased. The Department
eagerly awaits the 81st RTT, but also recognizes that our staffing
needs far surpasses the recent trend of recruit classes occurring
every few years. At this moment, 611 current members of this
department have attained 25 years or more of credible service
and are qualified, today, for full retirement benefits. Retirements,
resignations or dismissals brought staffing to a low of 2,045
before the graduation of the 80th RTT in March 2012.
Toys for Tots
Every year, just before Thanksgiving, the United States Marine
Corps teams up with the MSP for the annual Toys for Tots
Campaign. This year, we teamed up with Santa and the Marines
at SP South Boston to begin our 29th year with Toys for Tots.
This year we are collecting toys at all of our barracks across
the state as well as at General Headquarters
in Framingham. We encourage members
of the community to bring an appropriate,
unwrapped toy where it will be delivered
to a deserving underprivileged child. We’ll
be collecting the toys through December
14th. On Saturday, November 23rd, we
participated in what has become another
great tradition – the annual “fill a cruiser with
a gift” day. At eight participating Toys R Us
stores across Massachusetts, Troopers were
stationed outside collecting toy donations for
the program. That day, I had the opportunity
to visit with Troop “B” members and Marines
at the Springfield Toys R Us store. This has
been a great success in years past and allows
us the opportunity to interact directly with
the public for a great cause. I’m hopeful that
in the coming days every member of the
Department will help to support Toys for Tots
by making a donation themselves. In particular, I want to single
out Kerra Huchowski of the Fusion Center. Year after year, Kerra
makes “Toys for Tots” the great public service and Departmentsponsored endeavor that it is. Kerra puts in an endless amount
of her own time ensuring that collection boxes are properly
distributed, the “fill a cruiser day” goes off without a hitch, and
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