A message from Chief Colin Spence-
For years, the Chelmsford Police Department has been part of the Massachusetts Jail-Diversion Program (JDP), working in collaboration with the Billerica, Tyngsborough, Dracut, and Tewksbury Police Departments to create the Behavioral Health Unit. Funded by the Department of Mental Health (DMH), this program supports a clinician co-responding with police officers on calls for service by connecting residents to vital resources for mental health, substance use, and overall wellness.
We currently receive approximately $400,000 from the Department of Mental Health to fund 4 Clinicians that are shared among the participating Towns. This sharing of resources allows departments to have access to Mental Health Clinicians 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Chelmsford’s clinician also covers the Town of Tyngsborough. By having our own clinician, we have been able to reduce the number of arrests, hospital visits, and repeat callers, which ultimately helps to save your taxpayer dollars. This funding is critical to the Town of Chelmsford, the Police Department relies on this funding to fund our Mental Health Clinician. Our Mental Health Clinician is integrated into many aspects of the police department and assists our department in helping individuals with mental health and addiction issues.
The proposed FY26 budget cuts JDP funding from $18 million to $3.8 million, which could have a major impact on many JDP programs across the state of Massachusetts.
Please help us by contacting your legislators and informing them of the need for this program to continue. The state legislators representing our service area include the following State Representatives: Rodney Elliott, Simon Cataldo, James Arciero and State Senator Michael Barrett.
You can find their contact info here: https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/Members/House