A Massachusetts state trooper assigned to a “hate crimes” unit co-authored a training course that calls the parental rights activist group Moms for Liberty a “hate group,” documents show.
Trooper Emily Todisco of the Massachusetts State Police’s Hate Crimes Awareness and Response Team (HART) is listed in a training syllabus as one of two co-authors of a course with a slideshow comparing Moms for Liberty to white supremacists and Antifa. The slideshow, first reported by The Daily Wire, is used by the Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee, which provides training to more than 20,000 police officers across the state.
Todisco is also a member of the state’s “Task Force on Hate Crimes” appointed by Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, according to a state website. Todisco’s HART unit was announced in November 2023 to improve “data collection and information-sharing” on hate crimes, develop police training with the Municipal Police Training Committee and other goals.
Parental rights group Moms for Liberty is listed in a Massachusetts police training on “hate groups.” (Image via Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee)
“By comparing Moms for Liberty to neo-Nazis, this training plainly places our moms, dads, and grandparents in harm’s way,” Charlie Misseijer, director of police and legislative affairs at Moms for Liberty, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council’s offices in Washington, D.C., reminds us that authors of these types of law enforcement training materials, like Todisco, need to be held accountable for the dangerous and wholly contrived narrative they construct simply because they detest the pro-family, pro-freedom and pro-American values that Moms for Liberty represents.”
The police training committee did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Todisco and the training’s other co-author, Curriculum Specialist Hannah Gianfriddo, could not be reached directly.
The 2025 presentation in Todisco’s course, “Freedom and Hate: Speech, Crimes & Groups,” takes viewers through a list of local “hate groups” for law enforcement to be aware of. It lists Moms for Liberty among the violent leftist movement Antifa and white supremacist groups such as National Socialist Club. The training describes Moms for Liberty as “at the forefront of the conservative movement targeting books that reference race and gender identity and electing rightwing candidates to local school boards nationwide.”
The training backs up its listing of hate groups by citing the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which previously called Moms for Liberty “extremist.”
“The SPLC and anyone who cites the SPLC as a legitimate source of who defines hate and extremism in America — like Todisco — lost their credibility long ago when they started peddling their own version of hate against individuals and organizations that simply do not agree with their radical left-wing ideology,” Misseijer told the DCNF.
The training emphasizes that “hate speech” is protected speech under U.S. law. Though Todisco’s course does not describe any violence committed by a Moms for Liberty supporter, it warns that the various “hate groups” have been “active” across the state.
“Being able to recognize [hate groups’] logos, appearance, and having an understanding of their mission grants you the ability to recognize propaganda or harmful rhetoric when they occur in your community,” the slideshow tells future cops. “Recognizing the signs and being in tune with what is going on/present in your community helps you better prepare for situations that may arise.”
Healey’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
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