List of defunct law enforcement agencies of Massachusetts
The following is an overview of defunct law enforcement agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Three of these agencies were merged in 1992 by Chapter 412 of the Massachusetts Acts of 1991 along with the former Department of Public Safety - Division of State Police to form the current Department of State Police. Many officers of the three departments became Massachusetts State Troopers at the time of the merger.
The remaining agencies have been either outright abolished/eliminated, merged with other agencies, had their duties absorbed by other agencies, or were de facto eliminated by refusal to renew the police powers of their personnel.
Blandford Police Department
In July 2018, the entire police department of the town of Blandford, Massachusetts resigned simultaneously, citing "unsafe working conditions." While the town government initiated proceedings as to how the situation would be handled, the neighboring town of Chester, Massachusetts offered to assist by patrolling Blandford with Chester Police Department personnel. The Chester Police Department chief was sworn-in as the interim chief of the Blandford Police Department within months, and hired as the permanent police chief by mid-2019. The two towns began exploring joining the two forces together, officially, and by December 2019 this was accomplished. With Chester as the "lead town," the Blandford Police Department was dissolved, its assets merged into the newly re-named "Chester-Blandford Police Department." The agency would be the second dual-town police department in Massachusetts after the 2014 creation of the Hardwick-New Braintree Police Department.Boston Municipal Police
The Boston Municipal Police were founded in 1979 and were armed and sworn police officers. The BMP served as the security police agency of the City of Boston, originally under the Public Facilities Department, but later the Property Management Department. BMP personnel were responsible for law enforcement and security services on most city-owned properties and buildings. The BMP was dissolved on January 1, 2007 and replaced by the Boston Municipal Protective Services, an unarmed security force.As of 1 January 2007, BMPS officers initially held special police powers via the Boston Police Department's "Rule 400/400A" licensing scheme. All BMPS personnel lost such police powers due to the passage of the 2021 Massachusetts Police Reform Law and establishment of the POST Commission. BMPS personnel remain under the Property Management Department and are now an unarmed, non-sworn safety, security, and property management service.
Boston School Police
The Boston School Police previously served K-12 schools as the security police agency of the Boston Public Schools. The Boston Public Schools were served by a non-sworn "safety and security" force until the BSP’s official establishment in 1982. Like the Boston Municipal Protective Services post-merger, BSP personnel held police powers under the Boston Police Department’s "Rule 400 and 400A" special police officer licensing scheme. BSP officers were always unarmed. BSP officers lost their police powers effective July 1, 2021, when the Boston Police Department declined to renew their special police licenses under the auspices of the Massachusetts Police Reform Act and newly-created POST Commission. The Boston Public Schools, faced with the prospect of a non-sworn, unarmed "police" agency, transitioned the BSP into the "Office of Safety Services," effective July 1, 2021; The OSS manages safety and security issues across the Public Schools system via unarmed and non-sworn safety and security officers, crossing guards, etc. The OSS is supplemented, where and when needed, by armed and sworn Boston Police school resource officers. As of 2023, the Boston Public Schools had advised the mayor of Boston that re-creating their own, stand-alone law enforcement agency should be considered. As of, this recommendation has not been acted-upon.Department of Public Safety - Division of State Police
This is the former statewide police department for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which was founded in 1865; the M.D.C. Police, Registry of Motor Vehicles Police, and Capitol Police merged with this department to form the new Department of State Police in 1992. Prior to being known as the Massachusetts State Police, from 1865 to 1879 the agency was known as the "Massachusetts State Constabulary," or simply the "Massachusetts Constabulary." From 1879 to 1919 it was known as the "Special District Police of Massachusetts." From 1919 the agency assumed its current name, the "Massachusetts State Police."Massachusetts Capitol Police
The Massachusetts Capitol Police functioned as the security police force of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, providing security and law enforcement services to the Massachusetts state capitol complex in Boston, Massachusetts as well as the grounds around it, in addition to any other state properties the Commonwealth assigned to the MCP. MCP officers were armed and fully-sworn police officers throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The MCP provided foot and vehicular patrols, criminal investigations, and executive protection services. In 1992, the MCP was amalgamated into the Massachusetts State Police, with personnel either leaving or becoming Massachusetts Sate Troopers. As of 2019 — twenty-seven years post-disbandment — two former MCP officers remained with the Massachusetts State Police, though both retired within the following years.Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Police
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Police Department was formed during the creation of the authority in 1982. The department patrolled the Convention Center Authority owned property including the John B. Hynes Convention Center. The department was disbanded with the opening of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in 2004 and contracted security guards were hired to patrol properties. The contracted guards were replaced by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Public Safety Department in 2010.Metropolitan District Commission Police
The Metropolitan District Commission's police department commonly known as the Metropolitan Police; the MDC Police was formed in 1893. The MDC Police had the primary jurisdiction of law enforcement on all MDC controlled properties, roadways and all Massachusetts Water Resources Authority facilities, Reservoirs and Watersheds. Additionally, the MDC Police had patrol jurisdiction on US Route 1 in Chelsea and Revere, Interstate 93 in Boston and Milton. MDC Police also had full jurisdiction in cities and towns wherever there were MDC facilities or property.MDC Police were the third largest police agency in New England with over six hundred officers working primarily throughout Metropolitan Boston. They were commonly referred to as The Mets. In addition to patrol functions The Mets provided tactical assistance to area cities and towns in the form of regional SWAT teams, the Marine Unit and tactical operations units. Examples include Tactical Officers assigned to the city of Boston during court ordered school desegregation, assignment as the primary security agency for the Department of State with the responsibility of providing security and escorts for visiting dignitaries and annual assignments to assist cities and towns during the Boston Marathon.
Image:Metropolitan_District_Commission_policemen_stopping_a_car_diver_in_Cambridge.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A car driver pulled over by two Metropolitan District Commission policemen for having run a red light in Cambridge, 1990.
MDC Police also maintained a full-service detective unit to investigate crimes on its primary jurisdiction as well as providing Detectives and undercover agents to area cities and towns, area Drug Task Forces, the Governor's Auto Theft Strike Force, the DEA Boston Drug Task Force, the Secret Service and the FBI.
The last chief of the MDC Police was former Boston Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, who later was NYPD Commissioner and Los Angeles Police Department chief. In 1992, Metropolitan District Commission Police along with Massachusetts Department of Public Safety – Division of State Police, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Police, Massachusetts Capitol Police merged into Massachusetts State Police.
The following current Massachusetts State Police Barracks were MDC Police districts:
Additionally, the following State Police Units are based out of former MDC Police facilities:
The following former MDC police stations were closed within the first few years of the consolidation/merger:
Massachusetts Parking Authority Police
The Massachusetts Parking Authority Police patrolled the Boston Common Garage, Charles Street and parts of the Boston Common, from 1975 until the Parking Authority was disbanded and the garage turned over to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority in 1982. The agency was absorbed by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Police.Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Division of Law Enforcement
The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Division of Law Enforcement had the primary function of enforcing motor vehicle safety laws statewide, conducting drivers' license testing, conducting major motor vehicle crash investigations, enforcing laws & regulations on Registry property, as well as school bus and commercial vehicle inspection; RMV Police "inspectors" held full police powers throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and were permitted to carry firearms on- and off-duty.Inspectors were unique in the fact that as Registry employees they were able to suspend an operator's license on the roadside.
The RMV Police headquarters was located at 100 Nashua Street, Boston, Massachusetts. RMV inspectors were, with some exceptions, sworn as Massachusetts State Troopers with the RMV Police's 1992 amalgamation into the nascent "Department of State Police."