Page 4 - French and Electric Blue - Winter 2017-2018

Grenham and Deputy Division Commanders, Academy Class reaches its end, we are reminded
Major David Otte and Major Matthew Roy.
Thank you also to the State Police Academy
staff, led by Commandant, Captain Michael Lyver,
Executive Officer, Lieutenant Michael Baxter and
Lieutenant Stephen Koch, Director of Training,
Sergeant Jeffrey Lenti, and Director of Operations
Sergeant Mark Courtois, our dedicated sworn staff in our history. Today, you join a full-service police
and our amazing civilian staff. Each of you are
what made the 83 RTT a tremendous success.
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A special thank you to the Drill Staff, led by
Drill Sergeant, Donna Losardo, and Senior Drill
Instructor, Trooper David Pinkham.
As the Major assigned to the Academy for
the first 12 weeks of the class, I was able to see
firsthand the countless hours spent to ensure that
the 83 RTT would be the most highly trained
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class to ever graduate the Massachusetts State
Police Academy. Your selflessness has not gone
unnoticed. To the many instructors who shared
their time, knowledge, and expertise with these
trainees, we thank you. This outstanding class
of new troopers is the result of your hard work,
guidance, and leadership.
Finally, to the 174 trainees who today
will begin their careers as Massachusetts State
Troopers, there are no words to adequately
describe what you have accomplished. The
summit you have reached today is a credit to your
commitment, dedication, mental and physical
strength, and your desire to help others.
You did not get here by accident. It was
by design, and that design is rooted deep in your
DNA, in the traits that allowed you to not only
meet, but to exceed the challenges of one of the
most rigorous police academies in the world.
Two-hundred and forty individuals arrived
at the Massachusetts State Police Academy for
Day 1 on August 14 , 2017. Today, I applaud
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and congratulate the 174 highly motivated, truly
dedicated Massachusetts State Troopers who stand
before me.
So as this 83 Recruit Training Troop
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F r en c h·a n d·E le c t r ic·B l ue·W in t er·2017/2018·p a g e·4
that endings are also beginnings. Your journey
begins anew here this day, and what you make of
the road ahead is up to you. Each of you will have
the opportunity to play an important role in the
future of the Massachusetts State Police.
You join the Department at a critical time
agency where you may respond to a report of
a missing child, conduct traffic enforcement or
investigate a terrorist threat. This is the nature of
policing in America in 2018.
The backbone of the Massachusetts State
Police, since its inception, has been patrolling the
roads of our 351 cities and towns. That remains
as true today as it was more than a century ago,
and that is where all of you will start your careers
as troopers. Please have no doubt about this: Your
mission to patrol our highways and state roads,
to interdict dangerous drivers and keep motorists
safe, are among the most important duties you will
ever perform for our citizens.
Pay careful attention to the mentoring you
will receive from your Field Training Officers. The
time you spend with your FTOs will be a crucial
extension of your training. Listen and learn from
some of the finest troopers on the job.
You will interact with people from all walks
of life and all socio-economic levels, people who
are truly innocent victims of circumstance and
others whose life choices have left them vulnerable.
Whatever their circumstances, we expect they will
be treated with the professionalism and courtesy of
a Massachusetts State Trooper.
You will join in our mission to combat the
trafficking and abuse of opioids, which remains a
major priority of this Department. In the course
of your duties, you will stop drug traffickers, seize
narcotics and weapons, and seek and interdict
impaired operators. Each of you have been trained
in and issued NARCAN to provide emergency
life-saving treatment to overdose victims or fellow
officers who come into contact with dangerous
opioids.