NEW BRAINTREE, Mass. (WWLP) — Multiple Massachusetts State Police Academy trainees were injured during an unauthorized training exercise at the facility in New Braintree. An internal affairs investigation is now underway.
According to Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio, Col. Christopher Mason became aware of two instances during which trainees were required to do bear crawls. Procopio said those resulted in blisters on some of their hands. They were treated by the Academy Medical Unit.
The bear crawls were "not authorized as part of the training curriculum, added no value to the training, and contradicted the expectations that MSP Command Staff explicitly conveyed to Academy staff prior to the start of the current Recruit Training Troop," according to Procopio.
Two drill instructors have been removed and returned to their regular assignments elsewhere in the Department. The Academy Commandant and Executive Officer responsible for oversight of the Academy’s day-to-day operations have been removed and replaced.
