The death of a recruit at the Massachusetts State Police Academy has brought renewed attention not only to the academy’s training, but also its culture.
In 1988, Tim Shepard, a 25-year-old recruit at the Massachusetts State Police Academy, fell into a coma after being deprived of water during an excessive police training exercise.
Shepard was shuttled to a hospital, where he underwent a liver transplant, but never regained consciousness. He died soon after.
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More than three decades later, 25-year-old recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia died from injuries suffered during a boxing exercise, also under the care and instruction of the academy.
When Kevin Blanchette, a former state lawmaker, first heard of Delgado-Garcia's death, "shivers" ran down his spine.
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This is part of our series, "Commonwealth Confidential: State of Policing." Learn much more on police in Massachusetts here.
"I turned to my wife and I said, 'Here we go all over again,'" Blanchette said. "If you don't learn from the past, you are doomed to repeat it. And it seems that we're coming full circle now."
NBC10 Boston spoke to Blanchette about his experiences investigating the academy as part of a panel of police, public safety and legislative leaders commissioned by Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1989 after Shepard’s tragic death.
“People should not go to a police training academy with the expectation that they might die,” Blanchette said. “Something is seriously wrong.”
One former female recruit, who wishes to remain anonymous, agreed to a lengthy interview about her experience. She told us the program is “strategically” planned out to “make you lose your mind.”
For decades, the Massachusetts State Police Academy has faced a myriad of controversies.
In the wake of Delgado-Garcia's death, former recruit Giovani JN Baptiste claimed he endured racial discrimination and constant hazing at the hands of instructors. In an interview with NBC10 Boston, Baptiste said he was repeatedly singled-out to complete tasks that had nothing to do with training and told to "go back to Haiti."
In response to that report, state police said the agency does not tolerate any form of hazing, discrimination or misconduct, and thoroughly investigates all allegations.
NBC10 Boston teamed up with journalism students at Boston University’s College of Communication for a deeper dive into the state police. In an in-depth reporting class taught by NBC10 Boston Investigator Ryan Kath, one of the angles we explored is the culture and training methods inside the academy.
Student journalists reached out to 44 recruits that dropped out of this year’s class. The majority did not respond to our request for comment.
Two former recruits said they left because of the high stress environment and "toxic" culture. Both wished to remain anonymous out of fear of online harassment and unwanted attention.
Another recruit, who left for personal reasons, said the "tough" training program was not for the "weak," but he harbors "no animosity" towards the academy and is keen to go back.
One female former recruit, who wishes to remain anonymous, agreed to a lengthy interview about her experience. She told us the program is "strategically" planned out to "make you lose your mind."
"It really was hell," she said. "When you're in there, a lot of your rights are taken away. I honestly felt like a prisoner."
Would you like to share your experience at the Massachusetts State Police Academy? Reach out to us here, or email us at tips@nbcboston.com.
The former recruit made the difficult decision to drop out after less than a week at the academy. In her short time there, she said instructors called her a "failure," a "crybaby" and "disgusting," while repeatedly ridiculing her for her five-foot frame.
"As a female, it's hard," she said. "Especially if you're my height and size."
Last year, nearly half of recruits dropped out of the academy, a record rate. This year's class saw 65% of the recruits make it to the graduation ceremony. Out of 36 female recruits, 17 withdrew from the academy, according to figures provided by the agency.
The Massachusetts State Police say they are committed to improving the representation of women in state law enforcement with the 30×30 Pledge, a national initiative with the goal to have 30% of police recruit classes be women by 2030. This year, only 18% of current Massachusetts State Police troopers are women, according to the State Employee Diversity Dashboard.
"The Massachusetts State Police remains deeply committed to ensuring our workforce is reflective of the communities we serve," said a spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police. "Our mission to deliver the highest quality police services depends on our responsibility to recruit a diverse workforce and elevate individuals from every background."
Accusations of discriminatory conduct by instructors are not new to the academy.
In 1989, the government panel that investigated academy culture produced a report exposing the persistent "verbal abuse, taunting and hazing" experienced by recruits.
In a video tape of one class' first-day training activities, instructors could be heard spewing "abuse and insults that related to race, gender, intelligence, personal appearance and personal characteristics," according to the 1989 report.
Staffers at the academy called it the "school of the soldier," an institution that promoted a "them versus us" mentality in order to "weed out the weak links," Blanchette described.
The report found that "excessive" and "abusive" physical training tactics were not moderated by any "uniform curriculum," and punishments were deployed at the discretion of instructors, who failed to keep records of their conduct and had no training in cultivating a "modified stress environment."
"It was intended as a desocialization process from civilian life and a resocialization into the police environment," according to the 1989 report. "It is our conclusion the risks of serious physical and psychological injury incident to it far outweighed any value that its proponents may have perceived."
In 2005, there was a leadership shakeup at the academy after allegations that an instructor shoved recruits' heads down a dirty toilet bowl.
And in 2022, there was more fallout at the academy when recruits had to be treated by medical staff after performing "bear crawls" on the hot pavement. Only two of 38 recruits who performed the "unauthorized exercises" did not report suffering injuries on their hands, according to an internal affairs file NBC10 Boston obtained.
Since Shepard’s death, academy protocols have been implemented to ensure physical conditioning exercises are safely conducted. "Built-in controls," such as the presence of medical staff, protective equipment and "excessively trained" drill instructors, ensure physical exercises, like boxing, remain under control, explained Todd McGhee, a former defense tactics coordinator at the academy.
"Everyone has the authority to stop all action and assess the environment," said McGhee, who retired in 2011 after 24 years with the force. "It's a team approach and everyone should be working in the capacity of a safety officer."
However, on Sept. 12, Delgado-Garcia was allegedly hit in the head during a boxing exercise and lost consciousness, later succumbing to his injuries.
"For someone to be killed in a boxing exercise, that raises a lot of questions and flags," Blanchette said. "People should be hearing, and deserve to hear, what happened. The silence is deafening."
Now, over two months later, there are still few answers. Family members who saw the recruit in the hospital revealed to NBC10 Boston that his injuries included missing teeth, a damaged skull and a fractured neck. Those closest to Delgado-Garcia suspect foul play.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell selected David Meier, the former chief of homicide in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, to oversee an independent investigation into the death.
The Massachusetts State Police will have no role in the probe or the decision-making process, the attorney general's office said.
"The investigation will reveal more than just Enrique Delgado-Garcia's situation with the boxing exercise," McGhee said. "It'll go well beyond what transpired in the gym that day."
The Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston organization released a statement in late September urging the state to investigate the death as a possible hate crime. They claimed Delgado-Garcia may have been "intentionally paired" with a more skilled recruit for the boxing match.
The female former recruit NBC10 Boston interviewed said she was "disgusted" by the news of Delgado-Garcia's death.
"It just made me so angry," she said. "I think there's something more that they're hiding."
She acknowledged that the physical training she underwent at the academy was "exhausting," as recruits were forced to run everywhere, haul around 80-pound bags and constantly engage in push ups and sit ups at the will of instructors.
She added that, while the academy offered emotional and medical support, instructors often criticized recruits who accepted it, implying they were not cut out for the demands of law enforcement. Recruits also had no access to their phones and were not allowed to communicate with friends and family.
"Not having that support was very, very difficult for me," she said. "It really did take a toll on me."
The former recruit said she wonders what would have happened if she had stayed at the academy. She thinks the constant ridicule and the stress-inducing conditions would have eventually hardened her and said "she would have left a completely different person."
While she recognizes the importance for recruits to have the resilience to deal with difficult situations, she said the academy's training takes it too far and wonders how it affects troopers' ability to interact with the public, especially people dealing with mental health problems.
"You need to have a side of you that's not going to be hardcore because you're going to deal with people that are struggling with their mental health or suicidal," the former recruit said. "You need to have a soft side to you because, being an A-hole, that's not going to help someone who's struggling with their mental health."
In light of Delgado-Garcia's death, the former recruit said the academy should rethink drill practices and their culture at large.
"I think they need to really dig deeper into the way they train and really change things," the former recruit said. "[Especially] for Enrique's sake."
"The way recruits are treated, it's like they think stress-based training is the only way to make us strong, but it's causing harm," she said. "It's time to rethink outdated methods and focus on building recruits who are prepared both physically and mentally, not just toughened up through stress and ridicule."
The story was written by BU students Green and Pellisier and edited by Kath
