As of 2024, it has 2,500 sworn troopers and 611 civilian support staff for a total of 3,111 personnel, making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England.

The MSP enlarged its mission to handle primary vehicular regulation on the Commonwealth's interstate and limited-access highways after their development mid-century; during this period, it also established a presence in protecting Logan International Airport.

For much of the 20th century, the MSP was organized along military lines with a heavy emphasis on the role of the barracks, spartan working conditions, and a uniformity in appearance and internal culture.

Efforts are being made presently to render the department more racially diverse, as well as more inclusive of women and LGBT troopers.

In the early part of the 2000s the MBTA Police discussed a possible merger but it will most likely not happen due to high costs and standards for both recruitment and training.

Troop B has primary law enforcement responsibilities in many municipalities that lack local police departments in Western Massachusetts.

CAT troopers are also responsible for dignitary escorts, funeral prisoner escorts, attending community meetings, business seizures, school programs, static vehicle displays at community events, security at high-risk trials, security at parades, and many other various special missions.

This section provides reconstruction services to local and state police agencies for collisions involving fatalities or serious bodily injuries.

The section also provides detailed, scale mapping of large outdoor crime scenes, and assists agencies with routine mathematical analysis or vehicle examinations.

The State Police Air Wing has provided the Commonwealth and its network of first responders with airborne support for over three decades.

Aircrews stand ready to respond from three strategically located Air Bases within the state 365 days a year.

Troop "E" was unique in that it did not encompass a section of the commonwealth, but was instead responsible for the Massachusetts Turnpike, which stretches from the New York border to Boston Harbor.

Troop "E" headquarters were located in Boston and also patrolled Interstate 93 North and South from the Tip O'Neill Tunnel over the Zakim Bridge to Rutherford Avenue.

[20][21] Troop E Barracks were located in: The Commonwealth is divided into 11 State Police detective units that work out of various district attorneys' offices.

In addition to these activities, the Gang Unit also provides local police departments with personnel, intelligence, expertise, and training specific to battling gang-related crime.

The lab serves law enforcement agencies and District Attorneys throughout the Commonwealth, providing a wide array of support to facilitate effective investigations and criminal prosecutions.

The fusion center's job is to collect and analyze intelligence relating to terrorism and criminal activity which is then shared among other law enforcement agencies.

A trooper's base pay is augmented by working multiple details, directing traffic, overtime shifts, or providing security at special events.

He cited the use of state police instead of civilian employees to direct traffic at construction details and Logan Airport as examples of wasteful spending.

[32] Along with their base salary and overtime, troopers have other benefits to include: In September 2005, an investigation was begun after allegations of illegal hazing at the State Police Training Academy were brought to light.

As a result of the investigation, with pressure from then governor Mitt Romney, three troopers were removed from their positions, including the Academy Commandant, Lt. Richard Lane.

[35] On September 13, 2024, trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia died after suffering knocked-out teeth, a skull injury, and a broken neck; his body was covered in bruises.

[36] Because Delgado-Garcia had worked in the Worcester District Attorney's office as a victim witness advocate, a private trial lawyer, David Meier, was appointed to perform the investigation.

[42] In October 2017, a state police arrest report of a judge's daughter, Alli Bibaud, was changed to remove an embarrassing and incriminating statement ("Do You Know How Many People I Had To Blow To Get That,") concerning how she obtained the heroin she allegedly possessed.

[43][44] An online news article, written by Aidan Kearney for Turtleboy Sports, listing "many" troopers as sources, allege that the report was changed due to Dudley District Court Judge Tim Bibaud calling District Attorney Joseph Early and Colonel Richard McKeon, who in turn directed Major Susan Anderson to have the statement removed.

[48] In February 2018, Aidan Kearney, a journalist for the online news site Turtleboy Sports, broke a story that Trooper Leigha Genduso, who was assigned to the K-9 unit, was hired by the state police in spite of testifying during grand jury proceedings targeting her former boyfriend, before her hire as first a civilian dispatcher and then state trooper, that she smoked marijuana daily, sold marijuana in amounts up to 10 pounds at a time, took various other prescription drugs not prescribed to her, and laundered money from her former boyfriend's drug profits.

[49] There was also information from "many sources" that Genduso's boyfriend at the time of her hire, then-Major (eventually Lieutenant Colonel) Daniel Risteen, used his influence to gain her favorable treatment and highly desirable assignments usually only offered to troopers with many years seniority.

[51] On March 20, 2018, Attorney General Maura Healey announced that her office was reviewing the "apparent discrepancies between overtime paid and actual patrols worked," by 21 state troopers of the Troop E division.

[53] On June 27, 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested three Massachusetts state troopers for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars for overtime work they didn't complete in calendar year 2016.

The troopers allegedly took steps to conceal their fraud by altering tickets written to make it look like the citations were issued during claimed overtime shifts.