'Devastating consequences:' State police organization says Healey's proposed mental health cuts threaten officers, civilians

Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald on Mar 31, 2025

Published in News & Features

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The lives and safety of police officers, state residents and people in mental health crises are on the line with cuts to mental health budgets by the Healey administration, the Massachusetts Association for Professional Law Enforcement (MAPLE) said Monday.

“A proposal has been offered to cut ($85 million) from the state’s perennially underfunded mental health services budget,” MAPLE wrote Monday. “This cut represents a paltry amount compared to the ($62 billion) state budget now under review by the legislature. It also portends potentially devastating consequences for the lives and safety of mental health clients, state residents and police officers.”

The proposed $85 million cut to mental health resources included in Gov. Healey’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year has already earned pushback from a wide array of mental health providers, advocates, families and more.

The cuts would effect children’s and adults’ services, including community clinical services, residential treatment centers, and multiple programs, the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health laid out in a webinar against the cuts Friday.

The number of Department of Mental Health caseworkers would be reduced from 340 to 170, according to advocates, with approximately 4,000 current mental health patients losing caseworker support and 2,000 more awaiting caseworkers denied services.

“If these cuts go through, and there’s not a lot of resources available to support these people who need treatment, they’re leaving it to the police department to deal with,” said MAPLE President Dennis Galvin. “And I think you’ve got a recipe for some really serious tragedies ahead, and that’s why we’re concerned about it, not only for the people who are the victims, but for the police officers and the general public as well.”

MAPLE pointed to underfunding for the Jail Diversion — which faces a $14.2 million cut — and TTAC as major issues impacting law enforcement and public safety. The Jail Diversion program aim to treat mentally ill patients who may otherwise be involved with the criminal justice system, and the TTAC provides mental health training to first responders.

About 20% of all police calls involve response to people with mental health issues, MAPLE stated, adding “tragic experience shows that a certain percentage of those denied mental health care will end up in violent confrontations with state residents and most probably police officers, dramaticallyincreasing the odds that someone will be seriously injured or even killed.”

The police association said the cuts are a “moral injustice” for police officers and those in need of treatment.

“We want to raise our voice and join it with those who are are already resisting and saying to people that, look, it’s not just care that’s the concern here,” said Galvin. “There’s a big concern is there’s a public safety issue involved in this too.”

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