SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Before sheriff’s deputies started patrolling Union Station in Springfield, it was the single location with the most calls for service in all of Hampden County. Soon, those patrols will end.

The Hampden County Sheriff’s Department is facing a massive budget cut and Springfield will feel the effects. Over $26 million has been stripped from the sheriff’s fiscal year 2026 budget. That means at least 50 positions are on the chopping block and programs that are not funded by outside agencies will be eliminated unless municipalities agree to reimburse the sheriff’s office directly.

The impact is specific. The daily deputy presence at Union Station - the patrols that helped drive down violent incidents, disturbances, and drug activity at the transportation hub - will end. “The end of daily patrols in Forest Park, two shifts a day, seven days a week. The reduction of the services of serving 209A restraining orders to the individuals who need to be told. The loss of the mounted patrol visibility in key public spaces,” said Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi. “This impacts both quality of life policing and response in some of the city’s highest traffic areas.”

Cocchi called this only the first phase of a potential multi-phase reduction plan and said it is the wrong direction for public safety in Massachusetts. Springfield Police Superintendent Larry Akers said his department will step up, but there is no question it will take a hit. “You don’t think about that, until he was speaking today, and he was saying that those things would probably be gone and my mind immediately started going to, ‘Okay, how am I going to replace those resources?’” Akers asked. “So you don’t understand until you no longer have it.”

As for Forest Park, the city’s Executive Director of Parks Tom Ashe said in a statement: “We are hopeful that in the future, the state funding sources will again allow for this necessary service. In the meantime, we are fortunate that the Springfield Police Department under the direction of Supt. Akers has agreed to step up and provide an increased presence in our parks. My goal is to ensure that all visitors to our city parks will continue to know that safety and security is paramount.”

Union Station has not yet responded to a request for comment.

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