How to Become a Police Officer in Massachusetts

Who can apply

• You must be at least 21 years old.
• You must have a high school education or equivalent.
• You must pass state and national background checks, including fingerprints and a full employment history.
• A felony conviction bars POST certification.
• People listed in the national decertification index or POST's decertified-officer database cannot be certified or admitted to a police academy.
• You must be of good moral character and fit for law enforcement, as POST determines.

Step by step

1. Get hired or sponsored by a law enforcement agency. You cannot enroll in an MPTC academy on your own.
2. Pass the state Human Resources Division Physical Ability Test (PAT), a medical exam taken within nine months before the academy starts, and the MPTC pre-academy fitness standards.
3. Pass the state and national background check.
4. Complete an MPTC-approved police academy, passing the academic, skills, and health and wellness performance areas.
5. Complete the physical and psychological fitness evaluation, POST-approved exam, and oral interview required for certification, and hold current first aid and CPR certificates.
6. Become certified by POST within three years of graduating from the academy.

Training and exam

Training: You must complete an MPTC-approved police academy before performing police duties. To graduate you must pass the academic, skills, and health and wellness performance areas. A student absent for more than 10% of the course is dismissed. Failing three tests before the final exam, or failing a retest, also leads to dismissal. The regulation does not state a fixed number of academy hours.

Exam: The academy has written tests and a final exam with four sections. A failed test can be retaken within two weeks, and a failed final exam section within one week. State law also requires passing an exam approved by the POST Commission for certification. Officers trained out of state must score at least 70% on the Massachusetts Police Officer Core Competency Assessment, with no more than three attempts in 12 months.

What it costs in Massachusetts

Fixed amounts are set by the state. Items marked “your quote” are priced by private sellers, so enter what you’re quoted.

Keeping your certification

Renewal: POST certification expires 3 years after it is issued. To be recertified you must still meet the certification standards, hold current first aid and CPR certificates, and complete the oral interview (done through POST's questionnaire). Every officer must also complete, each training year (July 1 to June 30), 40 hours of in-service training, first aid and CPR, and the annual MPTC firearms qualification (even if the agency does not issue weapons). New academy graduates are excused for the training year they graduate, but must make up any mandated in-service training missed since graduation before performing police duties.

Good to know in Massachusetts

Certify within three years: Within three years of graduating from a police academy you must become POST certified. If you do not, you must attend the academy again.

Officers trained in another state: Your agency can ask the MPTC for an exemption from the academy if you finished an entry-level academy elsewhere, have at least two years of full-time police experience since then, and scored 70% or higher on the Massachusetts Police Officer Core Competency Assessment. You cannot do police work until the exemption is granted.

Reserve officers: The Bridge Academy exemption for reserve/intermittent officers (2,400 hours of police work plus the Bridge Academy program) and temporary 270-day full-time waivers will not be approved after January 1, 2027.

Disqualified officers: Someone who would have lost certification in Massachusetts for conduct while serving elsewhere cannot be certified.

Sources

• M.G.L. c. 6E, Section 4 - Certification of law enforcement officers
• 550 CMR 3.03 - Basic Training Requirements for Law Enforcement Officers (Cornell LII)
• 550 CMR 3.06 - Police Academy Training (Cornell LII)
• 550 CMR 3.07 - In-service Training (Cornell LII)
• Mass POST Commission - Recertification