A jury has ordered the Massachusetts State Police to pay $6.8 million after a finding that it discriminated against female and minority troopers.

The verdict confirmed Tuesday by a Suffolk Superior Court clerk came in a lawsuit accusing the agency's leadership of enabling a discriminatory process for hiring and promotions that kept women and people of color from rising through the ranks.

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The 2016 lawsuit accused leadership of handpicking candidates for jobs before they were posted and enabling a “pattern of discriminatory practices that prevent many from obtaining choice assignments throughout the department.”

A group of current and former state troopers that included women, Black and Hispanic officers, said emplo

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