Gov. Healey announces new leader for embattled Massachusetts State Police

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has named a new leader for the embattled Massachusetts State Police.

She has selected retired Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble of the New Jersey State Police as the next colonel of the Massachusetts State Police. His selection comes as a result of a national search led by a Search Committee and executive search firm. 

“Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Noble has dedicated his career to public service, rising to the highest levels of the New Jersey State Police and delivering results on some of the most pressing issues facing law enforcement. He is a principled, respected leader who is widely praised for his integrity, compassion and ability to bring people together. I’m confident that he is the leader that our hardworking State Police team and the people of Massachusetts deserve,” Healey said in a statement. “I also want to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to Colonel Jack Mawn for his stellar service and his steady leadership during this interim period. He has earned the respect of his colleagues, and all who work with him, as well as the public, for his professionalism, his work ethic and his integrity. He is a model for all of the men and women of the Massachusetts State Police and for the generations of troopers to follow.”

Noble, a Rhode Island native who spent much of his childhood on Cape Cod, served in the New Jersey State Police from 1995-2022, holding numerous assignments, including uniformed patrol, field training officer and detective. He spent two years holding the rank of major as the comander of the Forensic and Technical Services Section. Prior to joining the New Jersey State Police, he worked for two years as a summer police officer in Nantucket.

Since retiring from law enforcement in 2022, he has worked as regional president for Inter-Con Security Systems, a private security firm that manages security at locations including JFK International Airport, LaGuardia International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and the World Trade Center.

"I’ve long admired the Massachusetts State Police, and it is a true honor that Governor Healey has placed her trust in me to lead this distinguished team of law enforcement professionals,” Noble said in a statement. "The hardworking men and women of the State Police show up every day to keep the people of Massachusetts safe, and they deserve a leader who is accessible, transparent and committed to the highest standards of integrity and excellence. That is the focus I will bring as Colonel.” 

Noble is expected to assume leadership of the state police in October. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children, but will be relocating to Massachusetts.

Mawn, the interim state police colonel, had sent a memo to members of his department earlier on Wednesday saying an announcement was "forthcoming" and that it would be made officially by the Healey Administration "shortly." He said in his memo that none of the internal candidates for the job were selected.

"It is important to the Deputy and I that you hear it from us directly," he said.

Mawn was appointed interim colonel in February of 2023 following the retirement of Col. Christopher Mason. Healey recently said she was looking for someone who "will bring the most professionalism, integrity and competence and skill to the position" on a permanent basis. She is the first governor able to take advantage of the 2020 policing reform law allowing the state police colonel to be hired from outside the department's ranks.

Under Massachusetts law, the state police head must have at least 10 years of full-time experience as a sworn law enforcement officer and no less than five years of full-time experience in a senior administrative or supervisory position in a police force or a military body with law enforcement responsibilities. They must also be or become certified by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, and must not smoke any tobacco product.

The job was expected to pay in the range of $275,000 to $300,000 a year, according to materials shared by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Healey did not announce the official salary for the position on Wednesday.

The Massachusetts State Police, an agency with more than 3,000 sworn and civilian employees, has been marred by a series of scandals in recent years.

It all started in 2017, when two troopers say they were pressured to remove embarrassing details about the arrest of a judge’s daughter. The scandal known as “Troopergate” lead to the abrupt retirement of the agency’s colonel and a lengthy ethics investigation.

But that was just the beginning. Since then, a long list of officers have appeared in courtrooms as defendants accused of betraying the public trust.

The widest-reaching scandal was an overtime fraud scheme that implicated nearly 50 state troopers. The details involved officers submitting for overtime pay they never worked along the Mass Pike. Troop E was disbanded after the scheme came to light in 2018. The scandal cost a number of troopers their jobs, led to a wave of retirements, and resulted in convictions inside federal and state courtrooms and restitution to taxpayers.

The former president of the State Police union was sentenced to prison in May of 2023 for accepting kickbacks and spending union money on his personal expenses. Dana Pullman was a trooper for more than 30 years until his resignation in 2018. Instead of representing the interests of 1,500 members, prosecutors say Pullman embezzled union funds to pay for expensive meals and take trips to Florida with his girlfriend.

And in 2022, the NBC10 Boston Investigators were the first to tell you about injuries suffered by recruits when they performed bear crawls on hot pavement at the Massachusetts State Police Academy. The unauthorized exercises resulted in at least 20 trainees being treated by medical staff and caused a leadership shakeup at the academy.

More recently, Trooper Michael Proctor was suspended without pay after a mistrial was declared in the case against Karen Read.

Proctor drew heavy criticism after testifying in the case, for which he served as the lead investigator, revealing a series of inappropriate texts he sent about Read. Shortly after a mistrial was declared Monday, Mawn issued a statement saying Proctor had been relieved of duty and transferred out of the Norfolk District Attorney's Office.

Two of Proctors supervisors, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik and Det. Lt. Brian Tully, are also the subjects of an active internal affairs investigations but remain on full duty.

The scandals are causing a trickle-down effect on the Commonwealth’s largest law enforcement agency.

In 2023, the NBC10 Investigators reported that recruits were dropping out of the academy at a record rate when the state police are already having a tough time attracting officers and addressing ongoing staffing challenges.

State House News contributed to this report.