$33M Longview police station nears completion

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The days are counting down for one East Texas police department to move into a long awaited state-of-the-art facility. For decades, the Longview police department has operated out of an outgrown, cramped facility.

Supply chain issues aside, the new 70,000 square foot, $33 million Longview police station is on track to open as scheduled.

“We’re still looking to open sometime in spring 2023. There are some supply chain issues. There was the electrical panels. We put in temporary ones,” said City of Longview Public Information Officer Ricard Yeakley.

Funded through voter approval of a 2018 bond election, the facility is desperately needed, as the old building became so cramped over time any available space had to be pressed into service.

For Longview police, the move can’t come soon enough. They’ve endured decades of running their operations in cramped spaces.

“The old jail that was there, we had to refurbish it and make it into a property room. We did have to take things that were closets for storage and turn them into offices. We had to rent another building for our criminal investigations division,” said Longview Police Officer Brandon Thornton.

“A lot of the work happening right now is either inside the building or the back of the building: finishing work. Ceiling, painting, flooring. If you drive by, you don’t see the mass of activity you saw in the past year. That’s good news. It means they’re inside the building finishing up, getting it ready for the men and women of the Longview police department,” Yeakley said.

The building being so close to completion has police ready to make the move.

“We’re very excited to finally have the entire department under one roof,” Thornton said.

Though a specific date has not been released, the City of Longview said police department employees will move in by spring of 2023.

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