Laredo deputy chief briefs youth on department operations; visit cut short by active homicide investigation

Deputy Chief Andre Grama of the Laredo Police Department told a group of visiting high-school youth leaders that the department is ‘‘very fluid’’ and that an active homicide investigation required staff to leave the tour, shortening the planned agenda.

Grama, speaking during a recent visit to the department, outlined Laredo PD’s staffing and technology plans, described internal performance standards and recounted a personnel termination he said was for cheating on an academy test. He also described new capabilities coming online, including a real-time crime center, a drone program and expanded forensics.

The visit matters because it offered students a look at the department’s operations and how police officials are using data and technology to try to reduce response times and improve investigations; it also showed how an active criminal investigation can interrupt routine public engagement.

Grama opened by telling the students, ‘‘The Laredo Police Department is very fluid. Things are happening all the time.’’ He said the department has three pillars — ‘‘integrity, service, excellence’’ — and recounted that the agency recently terminated a cadet for cheating on a test: ‘‘So we terminated you for cheating on a test.’’

On capacity, Grama said the department has about 575 sworn officers and roughly 30 civilian staff. He described the real-time crime center as ‘‘a room probably about this size’’ with walls of video monitors fed by cameras deployed across the city; he said the department can view ‘‘oh, approximately 2 or 300 cameras’’ from the center and use them as a ‘‘force multiplier’’ to supplement patrol coverage.

Grama also described a planned drone program that he said includes four drones, ‘‘each $40,000,’’ to be deployed from four ‘‘pods’’ across the city. He said the city was divided into patrol sectors and that the department is moving toward smaller sector stations to reduce officers’ areas of responsibility and speed response times.

On staffing and training, Grama emphasized higher internal standards than the academy. He said academy passing is 70 but ‘‘our expectation is you need an 80. If you don't get an 80, we let you go.’’ He described his five years as a homicide detective, saying the work can require extended hours until a case is complete.

The visit was interrupted when Grama said ‘‘there's an active murder investigation that just came in,’’ and said Officer Espinosa, the department’s public information officer, would need to cover that incident. Because investigators were assigned to the active case, officials said parts of the scheduled tour — including meetings with investigators — could not proceed.

As a result of the interruption, the youth council meeting that followed was moved to reschedule later in the week. A student motion to reschedule was seconded and noted for the record; the new date was not specified.

The deputy chief also stressed continuing education for officers, describing the department’s investments in training, forensics and emerging tools. ‘‘Policing and technology are now married,’’ he said, adding that the department is ‘‘innovative, always learning, researching.’’