Request an Exemption or Temporary Waiver

A petition for an Exemption or Temporary Waiver is made by the appointing authority to the Municipal Police Training Committee (Committee) by the chief or hiring authority of a municipal, environmental or University of Massachusetts police department hiring a person who has been employed as a police officer in another state and is being hired in Massachusetts. 

A person who has been employed as a police officer in another state and is being hired in Massachusetts by a municipal, University of Massachusetts, or Environmental police department can request an advisory letter to determine whether they might qualify. 

Exemption

The employing department must provide to the Committee documentation of the officer’s successful completion of training that is substantially equivalent to or greater than that of a Massachusetts police officer at a comparable level of experience plus two years of municipal policing experience.

The petition for exemption must be filed by the appointing authority of the employing department and include the following documentation:

• Current certification in CPR and First Aid
• Current qualification in use of firearms by an MPTC certified instructor
• Certificate of completion of Basic Recruit Training
• Current resume

Temporary Waiver

In the event of a documented public safety emergency or other exigent circumstance, a person appointed to serve as a full-time police officer in Massachusetts of a municipal, University of Massachusetts, or Environmental police department may be granted a temporary training waiver for a period not to exceed 270 days. During the 270 day waiver period, the officer must be enrolled and in attendance at a police academy.

Again, this petition for exemption must be filed by the appointing authority of the employing agency and include the following documentation:

• Current certification in CPR and First Aid
• Current qualification in use of firearms by an MPTC certified instructor
• Successful completion of the training requirement for persons appointed as reserve or intermittent police officers
• Documentation the officer obtained a minimum of 1 year of law enforcement experience since graduating the reserve or intermittent training program
• Reason (cite nature of public safety emergency or other exigent circumstance)
• Current resume

Request an Advisory Letter

A person who has been employed as a police officer in another state may qualify for an exemption from recruit training. In order to determine whether they might qualify for this, an individual may request an advisory letter.

The officer makes the request in writing to the Chief Operations Officer for review and includes:

• Copy of the Basic Recruit Curriculum of the academy they attended
• Breakdown of course titles and course hours
• Total hours of curriculum
• Copy of graduation certificate
• Current resume

Mail your request including required documentation to:

Gina Masotta, Deputy General Counsel
Municipal Police Training Committee
42 Thomas Patten Dr., Randolph, MA 02368

An advisory letter will be provided to the transferring police officer and will contain a statement that would suggest a favorable or unfavorable Exemption would be forthcoming. This letter could be forwarded to a police department chief and/or the appointing authority who would apply for an Exemption on behalf of the police officer.