As mental health issues rise in Laredo, police are often stepping in where mental health pros are lacking. Assistant Chief Ricardo Gonzalez spoke at the Laredo Rotary Club, highlighting significant gaps in the local mental health system. He expressed concern that the city doesn’t have adequate resources to handle these crises.
Currently, Laredo police respond to mental health emergencies, a role traditionally reserved for trained professionals. When a crisis escalates, officers often must manage the situation, working alongside agencies like the Border Region Behavioral Health Center and the 988 crisis line. In Texas, officers can detain someone if they believe that person is a danger to themselves or others. Once they do, the police must oversee the lengthy process of getting patients evaluated and transported to facilities—often far from home because Laredo lacks a mental health hospital.
Patients frequently end up in San Antonio or even farther away, creating a heavy burden for local police. Sometimes, officers handle multiple transports in a single day. This situation worsened recently when Texas shifted the responsibility for mental health transports to the police department. Previously, the Webb County Sheriff’s Office managed this. Now, LPD is juggling routine police work with these challenging, transport-heavy duties.
The process can take hours, forcing officers to step away from their patrol duties. This impacts community safety and stretches department resources thin. Gonzalez mentioned that increased costs from these transports, fuel, and vehicle wear are becoming harder to manage, especially after recent funding cuts.
Officers have even started spending their own money to feed patients stuck in the system. Gonzalez noted the strain has led to a reassessment of how the department operates. There’s a push for better resource management and a new model that pairs police with mental health professionals during calls.
This co-response model, gaining traction across Texas, allows officers to secure the scene initially, while mental health professionals handle crisis intervention. Gonzalez believes this approach is a best practice, prioritizing patient well-being over traditional law enforcement responses.
However, the question remains: should police really be the ones responding to mental health crises? Gonzalez argues that officers, trained mainly for law enforcement, may not be the best fit for long-term mental health intervention. He worries that associating mental health emergencies too closely with police might discourage individuals from seeking help.
Sgt. Heriberto Avalos, who leads LPD’s Mental Health Unit, echoed this urgency. The city has seen rising mental health cases, particularly since COVID-19. Numbers show 18 suicides in Laredo in both 2024 and 2025, with 2026 already seeing eight in just five months—three of which were high school students. Avalos pointed out that mental health emergencies have surged since the pandemic began.
Both Gonzalez and Avalos agree on the need for systemic change. They want support from lawmakers to develop a robust co-response model that includes mental health professionals alongside police. This change, they argue, would not only benefit the police department but also significantly improve outcomes for individuals in crisis.
As Gonzalez succinctly put it, “Our community deserves more than what police alone can offer.” The shift toward collaboration in handling these sensitive situations could be a critical next step for Laredo. With growing awareness and increasingly urgent conversations, there’s hope for a more effective response to mental health crises within the community.
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