‘Ready to get to work': New Massachusetts State Police colonel sworn in

The new colonel of the Massachusetts State Police was sworn in by Gov. Maura Healey in a ceremony at the State House on Friday morning.

Geoffrey Noble replaces Col. Jack Mawn, who has been serving as interim colonel since February of 2023 following the retirement of Col. Christopher Mason.

"We are committed to providing, I want you to know, state of the art, responsive, respectful community centered policing," Healey said after the ceremony. "In Colonel Noble, we have a proven leader... He is a principled, respected leader who is widely recognized for his integrity, compassion and his ability to bring people together. Colonel Noble is the right leader for this agency at this time."

Noble said he is "honored and humbled" to lead the state police, saying he has "immense gratitude" to everyone who helped him to get where he is today.

"I will work tirelessly to live up to that trust," he said. "I am eager to get to work and serve this great state to the best of my ability... Public safety is not just about enforcing the law. It's about building relationships, creating trust and working together toward a safer and more united community."

"I look forward to this journey with all of you, and I am ready to get to work."

Asked about the many scandals Massachusetts State Police have faced in recent years, Noble said he will start by listening, and based on what he learns, he will address any issues as they come up.

Noble has spent 30 years in law enforcement, most of them with the New Jersey State Police.

Healey announced last month that she had selected Noble, a retired lieutenant colonel, to turn around the embattled agency following a national search.

Noble will make a $246,566.53 salary, in addition to a one-time signing bonus of $5,000, state police spokesman Timothy McGuirk said. He will also be eligible for an annual performance bonus of up to 18 percent of his base salary in July of next year -- which would bring his annual pay up to $290,948.50.

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.

More recently, state police has had questions raised about its training model following the death of recruit Enrique Delgado-Garcia during a training exercise in a boxing ring.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell last week tapped veteran attorney David Meier to "independently and impartially" examine the case, as reports have surfaced of alleged hazing and intense conditions at the training academy.

State House News Service contributed to this report.