It has been more than one year since Enrique Delgado-Garcia died from injuries sustained during a boxing training exercise at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree.
In the wake of his death, the head of the Massachusetts State Police ordered an independent assessment of the academy. Previous work by the agency hired to conduct that review provides a glimpse at what they could recommend to the commonwealth to keep recruits safe and avoid another tragedy.
“I think we have to be able to step back and take a critical look about what we have assumed for decades was the appropriate way to train police recruits, and that was the paramilitary model,” said Sue Rahr.
As former sheriff of King County, Washington, Rahr challenged the notion that police officers should train like soldiers in boot camp.
“I think it’s very damaging to perpetuate that model, because it perpetuates a model of those with power and those without power, and a really effective police officer inspires compliance,” said Rahr.
Her article for the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety, titled “From Warriors to Guardians,” was quoted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in their 2019 assessment of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s training academy.
That assessment resulted in 110 recommendations — including “to review the academy’s culture and disciplinary environment to ensure it promotes a supportive learning environment.”
That same organization, the IACP, was chosen out of three agencies that applied to conduct a comprehensive review of the Massachusetts State Police Academy.
After the contract for $599,100 was finalized in April, Col. Geoffrey Noble said he was very confident and pleased that the state police chose the IACP.
“They’ve assembled a very diverse, robust team of assessors from around the country, all of which have different backgrounds, but all of which had very demonstrated, high-level experience in training standards,” said Noble.
The agency began site visits and interviews in May with the start of the current academy class, according to Massachusetts State Police. Their review focuses on organizational culture and leadership, injury prevention and fitness standards, attrition and injury rates, training programs and methods. This includes an evaluation of the paramilitary training model currently in use and the academy curriculum’s alignment with modern policing needs, such as community engagement and de-escalation.
In their bid to the state for the contract, IACP representatives provided a timeline that stated their report would be finalized in September. A Massachusetts State Police spokesperson could not provide an update on when the IACP assessment report would be completed Thursday afternoon.
“If a region, a state, wants to work on the culture in their academy, it has to be done very deliberately,” said Rahr. “It has to be multifaceted from the messages that are posted on the walls, to the way the trainers carry themselves, to what’s measured.”
Regarding safety, the IACP suggested implementing concussion awareness training.
“Some law enforcement academies have prohibited all intentional head strikes in defensive tactics training and have eliminated boxing instruction,” the IACP said. “Other academies have required practices that allow only very low levels of force used, usually just enough to teach recruits proper blocking techniques. Regardless of what LASD’s policies are for intentional head strikes, this is an area of safety concern that should be reviewed.”
Delgado-Garcia died after being injured in a boxing training exercise at the Massachusetts State Police Academy. His autopsy report found his cause of death was blunt force injuries to his head.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell appointed independent investigator, David Meier, to get answers about what happened to Delgado-Garcia.
Changes are already underway at the Massachusetts State Police Academy, with the boxing training suspended, smaller cohorts and new leadership. The current academy class will graduate on Oct. 9.