Four troopers have been reassigned and an internal investigation is underway into a serious incident at the Massachusetts State Police Academy, an agency spokesperson said Wednesday.
According to a statement from Massachusetts State Police, they are looking into reports that several trainees were ordered to perform bear crawls, an exercise that was not authorized as a part of the training curriculum. Some of the trainees got blisters on their hands that required treatment at the Academy Medical Unit.
The bear crawls "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," state police said in a statement.
As a result, two Academy drill instructors who oversaw the crawls have been reassigned to other roles in the department. The Academy Commandant and Executive Officer responsible for oversight of the Academy’s day-to-day operations were also removed and replaced. Col. Christopher Mason also issued a directive explicitly prohibiting such unauthorized training. This specifically reiterated instructions given out before recruit training started in May.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
The internal investigation is ongoing and agency officials say they will "hold accountable any Academy staff found responsible for the unauthorized training."
