Page 13 - January 2017

Massachusetts was so rural, and emergency medical roll of honor of State Police officers who’ve given
help so remote, the trooper at the scene of an accident their lives on duty starts with a long litany of troopers,
was usually the victim’s best option for hospital young mostly, who’ve given their lives crashing their
transport. motorcycles on patrol.

Upstairs - where troopers used to live for six days at Long before the 20’s, though, the state saw the need
a time, before a march on the State House by State for a police force more comprehensive than town
Police wives brought an end to the barracks-life system squads - mainly to combat alcohol as the temperance
- Alejandro and her corps of volunteers are working on movement grew, but also to serve the many parts of the

Charlie Alejandro, museum director at the Massachusetts State Police Museum
and Learning Center [Photo: Antonio Caban/SHNS]

a recreation of one of the barracks bedrooms, where state that had no police at all. So in 1865, Gov. Andrew
two men lived like college roommates. commissioned the first state officers. Mostly veterans,
mostly Irish, they typified a profession held in not much
The building itself is a fitting venue. Built in 1931, it higher esteem than the ruffians they pursued.
looks like almost all the other State Police barracks,
which were all built around that time, as the force was Alejandro says some of those first troopers arrived with
professionalized year by year. the arms, including cutlasses, they acquired during
service in the Civil War. “I’m trying to get one of those
The State Police as now understood - a force dedicated on loan so we can display it,” she says.
to highway safety and pursuing crime across town
borders - originated from the need for the cops to Her inclination, at least for now, is to emphasize the
keep up with the robbers. In 1921, the automobile had “glamour years” of policing and uniformed service in
become prevalent, and criminals were increasingly general - when anti-cop controversies were decades
outrunning a law enforcement based on foot and horse. away and Americans viewed the State Police as their
protectors on the roads. During the 30’s through the
The motorcycle was the original vehicle of choice for 50’s, the State Police had a shooting team that was the
the State Police, and it exacted a terrible price. The

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