Overview
During the course of our audit, a recruit at the Massachusetts State Police (MSP or the Department) academy tragically died during recruit training. We heard concerns that the MSP utilized nondisclosure agreements that prevent recruits and others from disclosing information regarding their employment, and that these agreements went beyond requiring the reasonable nondisclosure of plainly confidential matters, such as law enforcement techniques, personnel matters, and information regarding investigations.
Under the public records law, we requested from MSP documents that are required to be signed by new MSP employees and State Police Academy recruits. MSP provided us multiple documents related to employee onboarding, including recruit training policies and a document entitled Confidentiality Agreement. These documents require broad-based nondisclosure as a condition of employment.
As an example, the Confidentiality Agreement document states the following, under Section I, Nondisclosure:
Employee shall not . . . disclose to others or use in any way any confidential information, non-public information, sensitive or potentially embarrassing or discrediting information or confidential information relating to business, activities, operations or investigations of the Department, its users, consultants or partners, including . . . information pertaining to Department personnel. [Emphasis added.]
We note that these non-disclosure requirements appear exceptionally broad and prevent employees from disclosing matters related to MSP business or activities if they are non-public, sensitive, potentially embarrassing (and therefore not necessarily embarrassing, but rather things that may potentially become embarrassing) or discrediting, including regarding consultants, users, partners and personnel. This non-disclosure language, which employees are required to sign “as a condition of employment with the Department”, is far-reaching and could potentially prevent employees, including recruits from discussing or disclosing potential corruption, unethical behavior, harassment or other unlawful or problematic conduct, as these would each be discrediting or potentially embarrassing to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Administration as a whole, MSP, its personnel, users, consultants, or partners.
The Office of Governor and the Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security alongside appropriate personnel including the Colonel of the State Police, should review this Confidentiality Agreement and other documents regarding confidentiality and nondisclosure and make the necessary changes to permit MSP recruits and MSP employees to report or otherwise appropriately disclose necessary information, such as allegations of abuse, harassment, corruption, unethical behavior, and other misconduct that is inappropriate or unlawful, which is not protected information (law enforcement or otherwise).
| Date published: | January 28, 2025 |
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