A. Dozens of State Police troopers have been accused of collecting overtime pay for shifts they didn’t work over several years.
1. Seven state police troopers have been convicted of collecting pay for overtime shifts they did not work. At least 46 members of State Police Troop E (about one-third of the unit), which patrolled the Massachusetts Turnpike, have been accused in the scandal. Three higher-ranking officers have been indicted and several other supervisors have been implicated. As these cases have moved through the court system, the evidence that this scheme was widespread and known to supervising officers has grown. The troopers that have plead guilty have described the overtime pay scandal as long-standing, widespread, coordinated, and systemic. The federal judge presiding over the cases stated that the scandal appeared to be a conspiracy and asked prosecutors why they hadn’t presented conspiracy charges. (Rocheleau, M., 11/13/19, “Supervisors blamed in State Police scandal,” The Boston Globe; Rocheleau, M., 5/30/19, “Ex-trooper says OT fraud was widespread and bosses knew,” The Boston Globe; Rocheleau, M., 5/2/19, “Judge asks prosecutors why they haven’t pursued conspiracy charges in State Police OT scandal,” The Boston Globe; Rocheleau, M., 12/13/18, “Tenth state trooper is charged,” The Boston Globe
2. In January 2018, State Police officials destroyed traffic citations from 2014 and before, even though they were key evidence in the overtime pay fraud cases. Their destruction has prevented prosecutors from documenting fraud in overtime pay before 2015. State Police officials had received warnings about payroll irregularities for years before the scandal became public. Although an internal audit of overtime pay had been active for over a year and public media had highlighted potential fraud in October 2017, the evidence was destroyed in January 2018. Furthermore, state agencies are required to obtain approval from the state’s Records Conservation Board before destroying public records. The State Police hadn’t sought approval to destroy these traffic citations. The state’s former Inspector General, Gregory Sullivan, called the record destruction “blatant, outrageous, and worse than the underlying crime.” Shockingly, the State Police tried repeatedly in 2018 to get permission to destroy more than 100 boxes of payroll, attendance, and personnel documents, despite on-going investigations. Permission was denied. (Vennochi, 5/16/19, “Time for Baker’s Teflon to melt on State Police scandal,” The Boston Globe; Rocheleau, M., 5/14/19, “State Police destroyed key records in OT probe,” The Boston Globe; Rocheleau, M., 5/2/19, “Judge asks prosecutors why they haven’t pursued conspiracy charges in State Police OT scandal,” The Boston Globe)
3. The state’s Civil Service Commission has ruled that four State Police troopers suspended in the overtime pay scandal should get their jobs back with back pay because the State Police failed to follow proper procedures in disciplining them. The Commission found that the agency did not afford the troopers due process. The troopers had appealed internally, asking for a hearing, but no hearing was held. They had asked for copies of the evidence against them, but the State Police said they could review it in-person but refused to provide them with copies. This botched execution of disciplinary procedures is a serious management failure. (Rocheleau, M., 3/28/19, “4 troopers suspended in OT scandal win their jobs back,” The Boston Globe)
4. Prosecutors in the State Police overtime scandal have revealed that there were illegal quota systems in two separate overtime programs. One of the programs required troopers to issue at least eight citations per four-hour overtime shift and the other required 12 citations per eight-hour overtime shift. Such quotas are unconstitutional in Massachusetts and the State Police had denied using them for years. In the State Police reforms announced in the spring of 2018, the agency stated that these two overtime programs had been discontinued in early 2017. (Rocheleau, M., 4/17/19, “Prosecutors describe second ticket quota system in troubled State Police unit,” The Boston Globe)
B. The Baker-Polito Administration promised in April 2018 to fix the problems at the State Police, however progress has been slow and the results mixed at best. Little seems to have changed in terms of culture, transparency, or leadership and management standards. Specifically, the Baker-Polito Administration has FAILED TO FULFILL THE FOLLOWING PROMISES:
1. Release audits of top-paid troopers quarterly.
2. Release internal audits at the State Police. (Failure to do so is a violation of the state’s public records law.)
3. Increase staff at State Police internal investigations units. (The staff was temporarily increased but has dropped back due to retirements. Vacant positions have not been filled.)
4. Install GPS-tracking in all State Police vehicles.
5. Resolve the jurisdictional dispute between State Police and Boston Police over the Seaport District of Boston. (Editorial, 7/12/19, “Baker whiffs on Seaport police, so city steps up,” The Boston Globe)
6. Limit troopers’ overtime through caps of 16.5 hours worked in a 24-hour period and 85 hours in a week (that’s 7 consecutive days of over 12 hours per day!). (A Boston Globe review of timesheets of the 20-member Motorcycle Unit for a 3-week period last August found 36 examples where the 16.5-hour cap was exceeded and 10 examples where the 85-hour cap was exceeded.)
(Edelman, L., 8/30/19, “Restoring a tarnished badge,” The Boston Globe; Vennochi, 5/16/19, “Time for Baker’s Teflon to melt on State Police scandal,” The Boston Globe; Rocheleau, M., 4/26/19, “State Police reforms are slow to materialize,” The Boston Globe)
C. Despite a promise to file legislation to allow the appointment of an external candidate to lead and reform the State Police, one and a half years after the set of scandals documented here exploded into public view, the Baker-Polito administration has appointed a 26-year State Police veteran as the new head of the State Police. Reform is needed in a) the culture of the State Police based on the fraud and corruption that has occurred; b) the military-style training, uniforms, and often demeanor; and 3) the lack of diversity. After almost four years under the Baker-Polito administration, as-of September 2018, the State Police force was 89% white and 94% male. Of the 55 top managers, 100% were white with 50 men (91%) and 5 women. By comparison, the Massachusetts population is 80% white and 49% male. (Editorial, 11/19/19, “New State Police leader needs to lead the way to change now,” The Boston Globe; Stout, M., & Rocheleau, M., 11/14/19, “No. 2 on force picked to lead State Police,” The Boston Globe)
D. A state trooper whose background investigation of a black recruit led to a court case charging the State Police with discrimination was nonetheless assigned to the unit that conducts background investigations of recruits. The trooper remains in the unit despite the conclusion by a jury that the recruit was rejected due to racial discrimination. This led the judge to award the recruit $130,000, to require the State Police to enroll him in the next training class for new recruits, and to order the State Police to pay more than $1 million for his attorney’s fees. (McGrane, V., 10/21/19, “Trooper at center of discrimination case the State Police lost is still vetting recruits,” The Boston Globe)
E. The State Police have repeatedly violated the state’s public records laws by failing to release public documents and information. The Baker-Polito Administration has made no apparent efforts to get the State Police to comply with public records laws. (Edelman, L., 8/30/19, “Restoring a tarnished badge,” The Boston Globe)
F. The President of the State Police union was allowed to collect his salary as a trooper in addition to his $71,000 union salary in apparent violation of state law over the 6 years he served as President. (Rocheleau, M., 11/22/18, “Ex-union head retires amid police inquiry,” The Boston Globe)
G. Two retired State Police troopers are facing criminal charges for accepting free guns from a state contractor and a gunmaker seeking business with the state. A third retired trooper was also involved in the scandal but has been cooperating with prosecutors and has not been charged. The charged troopers worked at the State Police armory, which was responsible for purchasing guns and ammunition for the 2,000 state troopers. One of them was the unit’s commander. They allegedly delivered 200 no longer usable weapons to a gun dealer who was a state-contractor for credit on future State Police purchases. However, they were then given 11 of those weapons for free for personal use and submitted false and misleading reports about the transaction. They also accepted two free weapons from another gun dealer who wanted to do business with the state. In addition, they allegedly stole other firearms-related equipment from the armory. All three troopers were suspended in September 2016 after a State Police investigation. (Ellement, J.R., 10/18/19, “Retired troopers charged over guns,” The Boston Globe; The Boston Globe, 3/20/18, “A timeline of State Police controversies”)
H. State Police state that two guns that were seized at Logan Airport were destroyed despite being evidence in pending criminal cases. This has raised serious questions about how evidence is being handled by the State Police and how the destruction of seized guns is documented. (Murphy, S., & Rocheleau, M., 2/20/19, “Troopers face scrutiny after mishandling seized guns,” The Boston Globe)
I. State Police investigations of over 1,900 serious car accidents have taken an average of 10 months to complete between 2014 and 2019. Other states complete these investigations in an average of one to three months. Of 321 open investigations in MA, one-third were over a year old, over 40 had been pending for over two years, and one dates from July 2015 (3 1⁄2 years old). The State Police say the unit has been chronically understaffed and one State Senator has stated that this is because of a lack of leadership and funding from the Baker-Polito Administration. (Murphy, S., & Rocheleau, M., 2/5/19, “Long delays in State Police crash probes are strikingly routine,” The Boston Globe)
J. For over three years, State Police have been recording every license plate that enters and leaves Cape Cod without notice to the public or clarity about how the data will be stored and used, raising serious privacy questions. The database now contains more than 100 million license plate images, but the State Police won’t say with whom it shares the data, although others do have access to the data. These plate-reading cameras are part of a larger network of largely undisclosed cameras that state and local police are using. Although police now need a warrant to collect cell phone location data, the collection and use of license plate data is unregulated. This means that no warrant is required for State Police to put a plate number on a “hot list,” which means that as soon as it is spotted by one of the cameras, the State Police will be automatically notified. There is also no constraint on how long they can keep the data. (Rocheleau, M., 4/7/19, “Cape traffic tracking raises privacy alarm,” The Boston Globe)