Page 15 - F&E Blue Spring 2018

patrol uniform of 1921. Across the museum are by volunteers. Through contributions of time and
the uniforms representing the agencies that
became part of the MSP during the merger in
1992. Scattered throughout are the various
uniforms worn by K-9, the Air Wing, bomb techs,
and other Troopers throughout the years.
The younger people attending the
opening participated in a scavenger hunt, spread
throughout the displays, which concluded with a
visit to the Learning Center and a sticker badge,
awarding them the title of “Junior Trooper.” The
Museum Director Charlie Alejandro
older visitors, many of them retired from the MSP
or related to those who served, were drawn to
the artifacts from their eras of service and the
wall of remembrance. The wall includes a framed
display of every member who made the ultimate
sacrifice. The tribute’s epitaph reads “It is not
how these officers died that made them heroes, it
is how they lived.”
So many people have contributed
to the efforts of keeping the history of the
Massachusetts State Police alive. From the
beginning of the Museum, artifacts were pulled
from the trash, saving them from destruction.
Other items were donated by retirees and their
family members. The first collections were
housed at GHQ and the Fleet Section, and some
later were kept at the State Police Academy
in New Braintree. The one thing every artifact
has in common is that, without the dedication
of volunteers to preserve the Department’s
history, none of these items would have been
saved. Before there was a Museum and Learning
Center, the Department’s history was kept alive
F r en c h·a n d·E le c t r ic·B l ue·S p r in g 2018·p a g e·15
money, the efforts to preserve that history have
come so far.
In 2015, I found myself sitting with Colonel
Richard McKeon in his office in Framingham. At
the time I was assigned as a Trooper in the Office
of Media Relations. The occasion was the 150
th
anniversary of the Massachusetts State Police
and the meeting was to discuss my hope to get
authorization to commission a commemorative
Smith and Wesson M&P .45 to celebrate the
event. I had long had a love of history, but that
day it was all about the history of the MSP. I recall
my conversation with Colonel McKeon as I talked
about the design of the weapon, the markings
that would make it just like the service weapons
carried by all sworn members of the Department.
The engraving on the slide that would make it
different: 1865 over an MSP badge, 2015 below,
with the words “150 Years” a tribute to the
Department’s long history.
The tone of the conversation changed
as I spoke to Colonel McKeon about the long,
proud history of the Department. I expressed
to him that we are all just a piece of the history
of the MSP, whether we serve for 20 years or
40, in the rank of Trooper or as the Colonel. The
history of the Department began back on May
16, 1865 when Governor John A. Andrew of
Massachusetts signed into law a bill establishing
a statewide policing agency, the first of its kind
in the nation. I didn’t need to give the Colonel
of the MSP a history lesson on his Department,
but I did note how honored he must have been
to serve as Colonel during the 150 anniversary
th
of the Department. I walked out of that office
with pride, and with authorization to create the
commemorative pistol.
Fast forward two years and I found myself
suddenly suffering from medical problems,
wheeled out of GHQ by Framingham EMS. It
all happened so fast. Suddenly I was a retiree.
I share this for those younger members of the
Department who feel retirement is so far away,
with thoughts of anything beyond the badge they
wear not even an afterthought. I recall back in