Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 147 § 17E
Whenever the employment of any police officer subject to section one hundred and eleven H of chapter forty-one or sections seventeen A, seventeen B, and seventeen C of this chapter is terminated during a year by dismissal through no fault or delinquency on his part or by resignation, retirement or death, without his having received the compensation to which he is entitled under such sections, he, or in case of his death, his estate, shall be paid the full amount of such compensation, provided that no monetary or other allowance has already been made therefor. The official head of the department in which the police officer was last employed shall enter on the departmental payroll all amounts payable under this section.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 147, § 17E