Massachusetts State Police have dishonorably discharged a rookie trooper accused of using offensive language toward young people during an off-duty golf tournament. Jack B. Cesarz, who grew up in Braintree, was terminated effective October 8 while still in his probationary period.
State Police said they moved quickly once the allegations surfaced. “The Massachusetts State Police took immediate action to terminate Mr. Cesarz following this off-duty incident,” the agency said, according to the Boston Herald. A department spokesperson added that Cesarz made offensive remarks to young people, and the incident has been described as involving homophobic comments at the tournament, though that specific detail was reported only as part of a question put to the agency.
Cesarz was still in his probationary period when he was let go — a status that gave the department unusual leeway to act without a lengthy hearing process. Under Rule 7.1.3 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Police Rules and Regulations, newly appointed troopers spend a full 12 months after academy graduation in a probationary window during which the agency can summarily discharge them for unacceptable conduct, without convening a trial board, a protection non-probationary troopers do not have.
A Short Career Cut Even Shorter
Cesarz had appeared on the official selection list for state police appointment published in September 2024. He earned $117,662 in 2026, according to state payroll data cited by the Herald. Before pinning on a badge, Cesarz was known locally as a golfer himself — he co-captained the Archbishop Williams High School golf team in Braintree and competed in state division championships, according to a 2018 Facebook post from the Golden Tornado Club.
State Police framed the firing as a matter of standards, not just punishment. “Any person who acts with such indiscretion and uses such offensive language towards young people has no place in our ranks,” the agency said, per the Herald's reporting, adding that it will continue to hold members accountable for both on- and off-duty actions. As of Monday evening, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission still listed Cesarz as certified, per the commission's listing. The Herald reported it had contacted the State Police Association of Massachusetts, which represents troopers, for comment but had not received a response before press time.
Certification Could Still Be at Stake
A department firing is not necessarily the end of the road for an officer's career — that is where the POST Commission comes in. Created under Chapter 6E of the Massachusetts General Laws as part of the 2020 Police Reform Act, the commission holds independent statutory authority to suspend or revoke an officer's statewide certification if clear and convincing evidence shows bias tied to sexual orientation, gender identity, race, or sex, or if the officer was terminated for cause, according to Avery Dooley & Noone, LLP. If POST moves to decertify Cesarz, he would be placed on the state's decertification list and submitted to the National Decertification Index, a step that would bar him from working for any Massachusetts law enforcement agency and make it far harder to be hired elsewhere, per the MA POST Commission. The research dossier notes it remains an open question whether POST will initiate a formal review in Cesarz's case, and whether any local police department has opened its own criminal or civil inquiry into the golf tournament incident.
Massachusetts discipline for officers can involve separate processes. POST operates as a statewide oversight and certification body, per Avery Dooley & Noone.
Part of a Pattern of 2026 Discipline Cases
Cesarz's firing lands amid a string of recent Massachusetts State Police discipline cases touching on off-duty behavior. In August, Trooper Joel De Barros Pina resigned while under investigation into his off-duty conduct, which under department rules triggered an immediate dishonorable discharge — the same outcome Cesarz received, as Hoodline previously reported. That same month, the agency suspended another trooper without pay following an internal inquiry into on-duty harassment of a young woman.
Other 2026 cases have kept state police discipline in the headlines. An off-duty trooper was relieved of duty in June after a physical altercation caught on video at ReelHouse Marina Bay in Quincy triggered an internal affairs investigation. Trooper Scott Quigley remains suspended while fighting vehicular homicide charges tied to a crash that killed Angelo Schettino, a 37-year-old paraplegic Special Olympian who survived in the hospital for about a month before dying on January 13, 2024; the state medical examiner determined his cause of death was complications from blunt force trauma, and the case emerged after a civil suit filed by Schettino's family put documents — including Quigley's alleged blood alcohol level at the time of the crash — on the record.
The most prominent recent case remains that of former Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, who was fired in March 2025 after being placed on leave the day of the mistrial in Read's first trial the previous year. Proctor read abusive and misogynistic texts on the stand during Read's second trial, including calling her a “babe” and a “wackjob,” mocking a medical condition she suffers from, telling his sister he hoped she would kill herself, and concluding, “We're going to lock this wack job up.” Proctor had investigated the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe. Massachusetts State Police formally dismissed him after a three-day internal trial board found him guilty of unbecoming conduct, as Hoodline reported at the time.
