Massachusetts State Police training is stuck in a time warp

That's hardly a mandate for sweeping change – neither to the boxing program nor to the “intensive 25 weeks of paramilitary training” that the ministry describes on its recruiting page as the core of its mission.

Across the country — Washington, D.C., San Diego, Burlington, N.C. — police training academies are exploring different models, tweaking or abandoning the paramilitary model and trying to expand recruit training by adding 21st century skills.

The old boot camp model “should be dead,” Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, told the editorial board. “When we started training police officers, the old paramilitary model served us well. But we realized that this is not relevant in 2024.”

Today, police officers need to be trained to recognize crises, de-escalate them when possible and “communicate and engage with the community,” he added. A 2022 study from PERF explains the need to do just that.

So how do boxing ring skills contribute to critical thinking in a department now being marred by the misogynistic rush to adjudicate suspended police officer Michael Proctor, now known for his statements and text messages in the Karen Reed case, or by the willful blindness of one investigator is clouded? Team that found a suicide in the Sandra Birchmore case while federal investigators found a murder?

And while the MSP Boxing Team still boasts on its Facebook page about being “the only State Police Boxing Team in the country” since its founding in 1976, there may be a broader message there.

Finally, studies dating back to at least 2007 have shown that boxing can cause traumatic brain injuries, even with the proper protective equipment. And as Jeff Paynter, an expert in police technical defense training, wrote in 2013, “There is no safe level of brain damage that can be inflicted on police officers in training.”

In fact, following a PERF recommendation, the Colorado Springs Police Department incorporated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu into their training program as a non-lethal defensive technique.

The boxing program at New Jersey's State Police Academy ended on August 2, 2021, just before this summer's recruit class began.

New Jersey's attorney general last week ordered a major overhaul of the entire training program at that state's State Police Academy following a damning report into the agency's discrimination against women and minorities. The report provided evidence that the boxing program was actually used as a weapon against women and recruits of color before it was shut down. It also emerged that physical fitness tests were also used to discriminate against women.

The investigation began when Geoffrey Noble, who is about to take over as head of the Massachusetts State Police, was still deputy commander of the New Jersey force and was serving several years of his tenure in that position.

To be clear, no one is saying police recruits shouldn't be physically fit. But as the PERF report noted, “In many academies, police recruits are still trained more like military recruits in a boot camp environment than like officers and problem solvers in a more education-oriented environment.” Training academies are typically closed, isolated environments where discipline sometimes more important than academic research, critical thinking and problem solving.”

And who says yoga — now part of police training in Des Moines, Chicago and Knoxville, Tennessee — isn't more useful than boxing? Police academies in San Diego and New York City offer wellness training that focuses on dealing with trauma and stress and anger management.

“We spent some time in Scotland preparing the report and the recruits stop there, say hello and engage you,” Wexler said. “They don’t greet you.” And in Scotland, probationary training lasts two years, including extensive field training.

Massachusetts may never be Scotland, but it should no longer be a place where the health, well-being and lives of those who want to serve are put at risk while training for the job.

Editorials reflect the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.