Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 31, sec. 58 — MA Code / Part I / Title IV / Chapter 31 / Section 58
Municipal police officers and firefighters; qualification
Status: in_force

Section 58. No person shall be ineligible for appointment and no person shall be denied employment as a firefighter or as a police officer in a city or town because of failure to attain a minimum height unless the administrator, in response to the written request of the appointing authority that no person under a specified height be certified for appointment to such position in said city or town, has established a minimum height requirement for the position. Such request shall include the findings of a validation study demonstrating the necessity for a minimum height for said position in said city or town, and such other evidence as the administrator may require. No person shall be certified for original appointment to the position of firefighter or police officer in a city or town which has not accepted sections 61A and 61B if that person has reached 32 years of age on or before the final date for the filing of applications, as stated in the examination notice, for the examination used to establish the eligible list from which the certification is to be made. No person shall be eligible to take an examination for original appointment to the position of firefighter or police officer in a city or town if the applicant will not have reached 19 years of age on or before the final date for the filing of applications for the examination, as so stated; provided, however, that an applicant who reached 19 years of age while serving on active military duty, who was not 19 on or before the date of an original examination, shall be eligible for any subsequent make up examination that is offered. No person shall be eligible for original appointment to the position of police officer in a city or town until that person has reached the age of 21. [Third paragraph effective until November 20, 2025. For text effective November 20, 2025, see below.]

Section 58. No person shall be ineligible for appointment and no person shall be denied employment as a firefighter or as a police officer in a city or town because of failure to attain a minimum height unless the administrator, in response to the written request of the appointing authority that no person under a specified height be certified for appointment to such position in said city or town, has established a minimum height requirement for the position. Such request shall include the findings of a validation study demonstrating the necessity for a minimum height for said position in said city or town, and such other evidence as the administrator may require.

No person shall be certified for original appointment to the position of firefighter or police officer in a city or town which has not accepted sections 61A and 61B if that person has reached 32 years of age on or before the final date for the filing of applications, as stated in the examination notice, for the examination used to establish the eligible list from which the certification is to be made. No person shall be eligible to take an examination for original appointment to the position of firefighter or police officer in a city or town if the applicant will not have reached 19 years of age on or before the final date for the filing of applications for the examination, as so stated; provided, however, that an applicant who reached 19 years of age while serving on active military duty, who was not 19 on or before the date of an original examination, shall be eligible for any subsequent make up examination that is offered. No person shall be eligible for original appointment to the position of police officer in a city or town until that person has reached the age of 21.

[Third paragraph effective until November 20, 2025. For text effective November 20, 2025, see below.]

No applicant for examination for original appointment to the police force or fire force of a city or town shall be required by rule or otherwise to be a resident of such city or town at the time of filing application for such examination; provided, however, that notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, any person who receives an appointment to the police force or fire force of a city or town shall within nine months after his appointment establish his residence within such city or town or at any other place in the commonwealth that is within ten miles of the perimeter of such city or town; provided, however, that a city or town may increase the 10 mile residency limit under a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under chapter 150E. If any person who has resided in a city or town for one year immediately prior to the date of examination for original appointment to the police force or fire force of said city or town has the same standing on the eligible list established as the result of such examination as another person who has not so resided in said city or town, the administrator, when certifying names to the appointing authority for the police force or the fire force of said city or town, shall place the name of the person who has so resided ahead of the name of the person who has not so resided; provided, that upon written request of the appointing authority to the administrator, the administrator shall, when certifying names from said eligible list for original appointment to the police force or fire force of a city or town, place the names of all persons who have resided in said city or town for one year immediately prior to the date of examination ahead of the name of any person who has not so resided.

[Third paragraph as amended by 2024, 238, Sec. 143 effective November 20, 2025. See 2024, 238, Sec. 328. For text effective until November 20, 2025, see above.]

No applicant for examination for original appointment to the police force or fire force of a city or town shall be required, by rule or otherwise, to be a resident of such city or town at the time of filing an application for examination. If any person who has resided in a city or town for 1 year immediately prior to the date of examination for original appointment to the police force or fire force of the city or town has the same standing on the eligible list established as the result of the examination as another person who has not resided in the city or town, the administrator, when certifying names to the appointing authority for the police force or the fire force of the city or town, shall place the name of the person who has so resided ahead of the name of the person who has not so resided; provided, that upon written request of the appointing authority to the administrator, the administrator shall, when certifying names from the eligible list for original appointment to the police force or fire force of a city or town, place the names of all persons who have resided in the city or town for 1 year immediately prior to the date of examination ahead of the name of any person who has not so resided; provided further, that any applicant who earned a high school diploma from a public school located within the geographical confines of the city or town or so resided in the city or town when they received their public high school diploma shall have the same claim to preferential placement on the certification as those persons who have resided in the city or town for 1 year immediately prior to the date of examination.

[Two paragraphs inserted following the third paragraph by 2024, 238, Sec. 143 effective November 20, 2025. See 2024, 238, Sec. 328.]

In the case of a municipality, with a population of less than 75,000 inhabitants, seeking to draw from a regional pool of candidates, the administrator may, upon written request of the hiring authority, when certifying names from the eligible list for original appointment, place the names of all persons who have resided in another municipality within 10 miles of the perimeter of the requisitioning municipality ahead of the name of any person who has not so resided in or adjacent to the requisitioning municipality. In the case of a municipality with a population of more than 75,000 inhabitants, a public safety department appointing authority from that city and its counterpart from any other municipality may jointly petition the administrator to include on the portion of the eligible list of individuals seeking original appointment that are preferred on the basis of residency the names of candidates residing in those specifically-identified municipalities if the city appointing authority is so authorized to petition for expansion of the residency preference by a vote of the legislative body of the hiring municipality. Whenever the residency preference to be applied to eligible lists extends beyond the perimeter of the requisitioning municipality, the administrator shall specify the contours of the preference-eligible geographical zone on the administrator's website. Thereafter, upon written request of the appointing authority to the administrator, the administrator shall, when certifying names from an eligible list for original appointment to the police or fire force of the municipality, place the names of all persons who satisfy the published criteria for residency preference ahead of the name of any person who does not satisfy the criteria.

Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any person who receives an appointment to the police force or fire force of a city or town shall within 9 months after appointment establish residence within such city or town or at any other place in the commonwealth that is within 10 miles of the perimeter of such city or town; provided, however, that a city or town may increase the 10–mile residency limit under a collective bargaining agreement negotiated under chapter 150E.

As a prerequisite to appointment to the position of regular police officer in a city, or in a town where the civil service law and rules are applicable to such position, a person shall have graduated from high school, or received a high school graduation equivalency certificate from the department of education, or served for three years or more in the armed forces of the United States, having last left such armed forces under honorable conditions.

Upon the written request of an appointing authority that educational requirements be established as prerequisites for appointment to its fire force, the administrator may establish such requirements.