After the scandal, where is the real change at The State Police

Lifted from 

 Matt Rocheleau Globe Staff,April 26, 2019

Yet, one year later, several of these initiatives are partially, if not entirely, unfulfilled, and a shift in culture at the troubled agency has proved stubbornly elusive.

Although overtime spending dropped department wide last year, it was driven in part by a steady reduction in the agency’s ranks. Some proposed reforms have suffered setbacks or remain uncertain amid union push back. And though the agency conducted several internal studies, it also ignored some of the recommendations outlined in these reports.

Reforms State Police, Governor promised

■ Disband troubled Troop E — Last spring, the unit at the center of an overtime fraud and bogus traffic citation scheme was disbanded. Its barracks, troopers, and their duties, which consisted primarily of patrolling the Massachusetts Turnpike, were absorbed by other State Police troops.

■ Deploy GPS-tracking in cruisers — The department is about halfway done adding GPS-tracking technology to its fleet of 3,000 cruisers and specialty vehicles, but union push back and pending complaints before the state’s labor relation department could upend the program.

■ Develop body camera program — The department launched a six-month body camera pilot program in February. The troopers’ union agreed to the ongoing pilot, but if the program is to be implemented permanently, it will require additional buy-in from the union.

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■ Study how to more efficiently patrol Mass. Pike — The department completed the study, but ignored a key recommendation to stop staffing posts purely on an overtime basis.

■ Study Troop F’s high overtime spending — The department completed the study, implemented a plan to reduce overtime, and saw some early promising results. But the plan is unlikely to hit the high-end of the lofty projections officials announced last spring. And the department hasn’t followed through on Governor Charlie Baker’s order to resolve a long-running jurisdiction dispute with Boston Police over the Seaport district.

■ Audit top 50 earners quarterly, publish results — The department said it has audited top-paid troopers agency-wide three times since last year, looking for violations of limits on how many hours troopers can work. But the department has refused to disclose if such violations were found, saying prosecutors investigating overtime fraud have requested it not release the audits’ results. A department spokesman did say the audits revealed “various isolated” record-keeping inconsistencies and data-entry errors, but those “do not warrant investigation or discipline.”