NEW BRAINTREE, Mass. — The Massachusetts State Police announced several “significant reforms” to its law enforcement academy following the death of one of its recruits.
State Police recruit Enrique Delgado Garcia died in 2024 after being injured in the boxing ring during a defensive tactics exercise. Multiple employees were charged in connection with the incident, and academy classes were suspended.
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A subsequent review of the academy’s functions by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that leadership and high staff turnover was leading to inconsistent training standards and high trainee attrition was an accepted norm at the academy. It also found that recruits underwent punitive stress training that was not consistently tied to defined learning objectives and raised concerns about recruit safety., The report stated that drill instructors were causing “chaos, humiliation and limited instructional feedback.”
The agency’s Oct. 23 announcement addresses further changes to be made to the academy program after an initial overhaul of training practices. It comes ahead of the Oct. 26 start of the 93rd Recruit Training Troop, which the agency delayed to allow more time to implement changes. The agency stated it developed a plan to address the 103 recommendations posed by the IACP in its report.
The agency stated that it has implemented 22 priority recommendations, with work underway on nine more. The priority changes include appointing new academy leadership, enacting medical training and oversight, and clarifying curriculum and graduation standards.
The new graduation standards are intended to reinforce “expectations for trainees and [provide] a clearer framework for evaluating readiness to graduate and serve as a state trooper,” according to the statement. The agency further specified that defensive tactics training will require candidates to pass written exams on policies, procedures and appropriate uses with a score of 100.
The academy has also formally eliminate the drill instructor title “as part of a broader shift toward a more professional, supportive, and effective approach to recruit training,” according to the announcement. A leadership team of about 15 instructors will guide each recruit class, in addition to instructors of specialized training topics.
Additionally, the agency stated it developed a new stress framework and contracted a medical expert in stress training to support its implementation with specialized instruction for academy staff and a dedicated session for trainees during orientation week. The framework is intended to ensure that stress serves “clearly defined training objectives.”
The academy also expanded its medical training and oversight. Instructors and trainees will receive concussion awareness and response training from a physician assistant. The academy is also expanding its work with UMass Memorial Medical Group to analyze recruit injuries and inform prevention strategies, and medical experts will have a greater presence at the academy. The daily schedule now includes dedicated time for rest and recovery, uninterrupted meals and set opportunities to contact family.
How could eliminating the drill instructor title change the academy’s training culture?
