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Gov. Maura Healey used the new powers afforded to her under law and picked the retired second-in-command of the New Jersey State Police to take over as the next superintendent and colonel of the Massachusetts State Police.
Geoffrey Noble, who retired as New Jersey State Police lieutenant colonel in 2022 and has been working as a regional president for a private security firm since, will take over command of the MSP in October, Healey's office announced Wednesday afternoon.
Healey is the first governor able to take advantage of a provision of the 2020 policing reform law allowing the State Police colonel to be hired from outside of the department's current ranks, something that is common and unremarkable in many other jurisdictions.
Noble will take the reins of a department that has been thrust into a glaring spotlight numerous times in recent years. The latest controversy about the force's culture emerged this summer, when a trooper's crude text messages were read aloud on the stand during the widely-watched Karen Read murder trial.
Healey said last year she was looking for someone with "integrity and managerial competence" to lead the department on a more permanent basis.
"Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Noble has dedicated his career to public service, rising to the highest levels of the New Jersey State Police and delivering results on some of the most pressing issues facing law enforcement. He is a principled, respected leader who is widely praised for his integrity, compassion and ability to bring people together," the governor said Wednesday. "I'm confident that he is the leader that our hardworking State Police team and the people of Massachusetts deserve."
Noble joined the New Jersey State Police in 1995, where he rose through the ranks including time as a uniformed patrol officer, a field training officer, detective, commander of the New Jersey attorney general’s Shooting Response Team, commander of the Forensic and Technical Services Section, chief of staff for the entire agency, and ultimately deputy superintendent.
Healey's office said Noble implemented a new Office of Employee Relations and Community Outreach during his tenure as deputy superintendent, which ran from 2018 to 2022.
Since his retirement from the force in 2022, Noble has been working for Inter-Con Security Systems, Inc.
He was raised in Rhode Island and spent much of his childhood on Cape Cod, Healey's office said. His career also has roots in Massachusetts: before he started as an officer in New Jersey, Noble spent two years as a summer police officer in Nantucket, according to Healey's office.
"I've long admired the Massachusetts State Police, and it is a true honor that Governor Healey has placed her trust in me to lead this distinguished team of law enforcement professionals," Noble said in a statement provided by Healey's office. "The hardworking men and women of the State Police show up every day to keep the people of Massachusetts safe, and they deserve a leader who is accessible, transparent and committed to the highest standards of integrity and excellence. That is the focus I will bring as Colonel."
State law requires the colonel to have at least 10 years of experience as a full-time, sworn police officer and five years of relevant full-time experience in a senior administrative or supervisory position. The 2020 police reform law for the first time allowed governors to expand their searches beyond internal candidates.
Reform supporters hope that bringing in a new leader from outside the department will help to improve its culture after a string of controversies, including an overtime fraud scheme and an alleged quota system for ticketing motorists.
Since the February 2023 retirement of Col. Christopher Mason, Interim Col. John Mawn has led the State Police. Healey praised Mawn on Wednesday as "a model for all of the men and women of the Massachusetts State Police and for the generations of troopers to follow."
The Healey administration conducted a lengthy search process that eventually led to Noble's appointment. Healey convened a six-person search committee that worked with the International Association of Chiefs of Police to examine potential candidates.
One person on that panel might have overlapped with Noble. Gayle Cameron, a former member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, worked for the New Jersey State Police from 1980 to 2008, eventually retiring as a deputy superintendent -- the same second-in-command post that Noble held a decade later.
Other search committee members are former Secretary of Public Safety and former Essex County District Attorney Kevin Burke, founder and CEO of the Roca antiviolence group Molly Baldwin, Mass. Chiefs of Police Association Executive Director Mark Leahy, Mass. Office for Victim Assistance Executive Director Liam Lowney, and Mintz litigation group member Natashia Tidwell, who is also a former federal prosecutor and Cambridge police officer.
The Massachusetts State Police has more than 3,000 employees and an annual operating budget of about $500 million, according to Healey's office, making it the largest law enforcement agency in New England.
