2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth › Chapter 22c - The Department of State Police › Section 10 - Appointments to Department of State Police; Governor's Authorization; Restrictions

Section 10. Whenever the governor shall deem it necessary to provide more effectively for the protection of persons and property and for the maintenance of law and order in the commonwealth, such officer may authorize, in writing, the colonel to make appointments to the department of state police, together with such other employees as the governor may deem necessary for the proper administration thereof. The appointment of the officers herein provided for shall be by enlistment and such appointees shall be exempt from the requirements of chapter thirty-one; provided, however, that the classification of such positions shall be subject to the provisions of section forty-five of chapter thirty. Said officers shall have and exercise within the commonwealth all the powers of constables, except the service of civil process, and of police officers and watchmen. The colonel may, subject to the provisions of this chapter and of chapter one hundred and fifty E, make rules and regulations for the force, including matters pertaining to the discipline, organization, government, training, compensation, equipment, rank structure, and means of swift transportation; provided that no member of said force shall be used or called upon for service in any industrial dispute, unless actual violence has occurred therein, and then only by order, in writing, of the governor. Any member of said force violating any of the rules and regulations for said force shall be subject to discipline and discharge in accordance with said rules and regulations. The colonel may expend annually for the expenses of administration, organization, government, training, compensation, equipment and maintenance such amount as the general court may appropriate.
No person who has not attained the age of 21 shall be enlisted for the first time as an officer of the state police. No person shall be eligible to take a competitive examination conducted pursuant to section 11 if the person has attained the age of 35 on or before the final date for the filing of applications for such examination, as stated in the examination notice. Subsequent to January first, nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, no person who smokes any tobacco product shall be eligible for appointment as a uniformed member of the department of state police, and no person so appointed after said date shall continue in such office or position if such person thereafter smokes any tobacco product; the personnel administrator shall promulgate regulations for the implementation of the provisions of this sentence. No person shall be enlisted as an officer of the state police until such officer shall have undergone an initial medical and physical fitness examination and shall have met such initial medical and physical fitness standards as prescribed by rules and regulations promulgated by the colonel.
A person shall not be enlisted as a uniformed member of the state police except in accordance with this section and section 11; provided, however, that other than for an appointment made pursuant to section 3, a person employed as a police officer for an agency other than the department of state police, including, but not limited to, an agency of the commonwealth or any political subdivision of the commonwealth, shall not be allowed to transfer into a position as a uniformed member of the state police.
Except as otherwise provided, no officer appointed under this section shall be denied continued enlistment if such officer has served satisfactorily for six years or more; provided, however, that as a condition of such continued enlistment such officer shall undergo a biennial in-service medical and physical fitness examination and shall meet such in-service medical and physical fitness standards as prescribed by rules and regulations by the colonel to ensure that any such officer appointed under this section is physically able to perform the necessary duties and functions necessary to the normal operation of the department of state police. If any such officer fails to meet such in-service standards, such officer shall be eligible to undergo a reexamination within sixty days of the date of the in-service medical or physical fitness examination failed. If such officer fails the reexamination, such officer shall be eligible to undergo a second reexamination within ninety days of the date of the first reexamination. If such officer fails to pass the second reexamination, such officer's continued enlistment shall be denied; provided, however, that if the failure to meet such in-service standards is due to a temporary injury, illness or incapacity, such officer shall continue to be employed with duties adapted to such injury, illness or incapacity until such time as such officer shall pass such in-service standards. An officer whose continued enlistment is denied because of such officer's failure to meet such in-service medical or physical fitness standards shall not be presumed by virtue of said denial to be disabled for the purposes of chapter thirty-two.
The colonel may assign, reassign or transfer any uniformed member of the state police at any time to any duties in any of said divisions or said bureaus within the department. All such uniformed members within the department without exception and regardless of rank, assignment or duties regularly performed shall be subject to all duties of the uniformed members of the state police including, but not limited to, emergency duties.