El Valle Detention Facility and Willacy County Regional Detention Facility recently combined resources to host a training for the Texas Gang Investigators Association (TGIA). El Valle and Willacy County are MTC-operated facilities both located in Raymondville, Texas, and are next door to each other.

Ringo De Leon is the president of the TGIA.

“I wanted to say ‘thank you,'” he says, “to MTC and the surrounding areas for joining in with us on this war on gangs. This association goes around the state of Texas, training over 1,800 people every year, or more. For the last two years, we’ve been here at the Raymondville facility with MTC. We really appreciate the partnership that we’ve encountered and continue to work with.”

The training that was attended by multiple agencies from the area was all about working together and sharing intelligence; it was about networking and coordinating in a unified fashion.

“It’s critical toward the safety of individuals inside,” explains Ringo, “not only the officers and inmates. But as well on the outside. Because we all know that what happens inside sometimes, or outside, it goes back and forth. So, it’s important that we work together and we train together, and that we’re all on the same page.”

The Raymondville facilities were happy to offer their services to the association and were grateful for the training staff members received.

Ringo expressed his own thanks.

“I thank you for allowing us to train here, and the warden and all your staff here is just incredible. They’re very pro-law enforcement, pro-working together. You’ll be able to see the difference here in this facility and in the surrounding area. Thank you.”