San Marcos officers trained for mental health crises

San Marcos officers trained for mental health crises

The San Marcos Police Department is celebrating a new milestone, as more than half of the department is now Mental Health Peace Officer certified.

SAN MARCOS, Texas - The San Marcos Police Department is celebrating a new milestone, as more than half of the department is now Mental Health Peace Officer (MHPO) certified.

The announcement by San Marcos PD revealed that 76 officers, representing 59% of the department, now hold the certification, which trains officers on how to better respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis.

What they're saying:

"We want to focus on deescalation, and we do a lot of that by slowing everything down. We want to buy time," says San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge.

He believes the new training will lead to fewer incarcerations and better support for those in need.

The training to achieve MHPO certification can be extensive. In order to be eligible, applicants must have been an officer for at least two years and have completed previous training requirements. Officers then undergo several hours under special instruction.

"The officers collectively, just in the year 2025, had 4,200 hours of training to make this happen," said Chief Stanridge.

The training is led by Corporal Joe Osbourne, who oversees the department’s mental health unit. As part of the instruction, people with real-life mental health experience, as well as regional mental health experts, were brought into talk with officers. Virtual Reality headsets are also utilized, allowing officers to engage in different scenarios in real time.

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"They put those on, and they ran through simulated scenarios where they were required to engage with mental health clients to replicate the exact type of calls they’re going to make out on the streets of San Marcos," says Stanridge.

Chief Stanridge said he first vocalized his support for training at the beginning of 2025 and believes the data behind mental health calls in the area showed a desperate need for officers to be prepared to handle such situations. 

Stanridge says that since 2023, the department has responded to over 8,000 calls related to mental health. They’ve also engaged in more than 800 emergency detention orders.

"It's been truthful, especially for the state of Texas, that for most of our history our county jails have been the de facto largest mental health providers," says Stanridge. 

The department is confident that with more than half of the force now holding the certification, officers will now be better suited to deescalate situations, which could lead to those being impacted receiving the proper care at mental health facilities instead of local jails.

Already, Stanridge says they’ve been seeing results in real life scenarios.

"We've had two scenarios, one involving a veteran who said he was going to kill himself. And I'm happy to report that one of those newly certified peace officers served as the primary negotiator on that patrol-driven call," he said.

According to Stanridge, the call was able to be peacefully resolved by the officer without the need of a negotiator or SWAT team.

What's next:

Heading into 2026, the department says it has its sights set on a more proactive approach. 

Already the San Marcos Mental Health Unit does routine checkups on certain individuals with a history of mental health issues. Stanridge says next year they will hopefully dedicate more officers to this role, hopefully preventing mental health situations before they are able to begin.

The department says training will continue to ensure that as many of their officers are Mental Health Peace Officer certified as possible.