New Longview Police Department headquarters faces construction delays

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - After years of planning and anticipation, a new East Texas police building is close to completion, but delays have come again. For decades, police in Longview have been working in cramped offices that the department has outgrown.

The impressive structure on Longview’s South Street will be the new home for the Longview police department.

“It’s so close we can taste it. We’re ready to get our guys in there. The key for us is we want to get it right. It’s a massive building; it’s a large investment of taxpayer dollars,” said City of Longview Public Information Officer Richard Yeakley.

Yeakley said supply chain issues have stalled the scheduled completion of the building.

The unexpected delays were in critical components, components that would have been easily available had there not been a pandemic.

“An issue here, an issue there: we chose a tile that wasn’t fully in stock. There were electrical panels that we were waiting on coming in. Those are all in. We were told they were on back order for months and months,” said Yeakley.

The 70,000 square-foot, 33-million dollar facility was scheduled to open in spring. Now, it looks more like late spring to early summer.

Funded through voter approval of a 2018 bond election, the facility is desperately needed, as current facilities are so cramped that closets are being used as office space.

“Voters realized the need, heard the need, for the building and said, ‘yes, let’s go ahead and do it.’ They planned this to be a building to last the department for decades to come,” Yeakley said.

Once Longview police move into the new facility, the old facility will be remodeled for city employee offices.

Copyright 2023 KLTV. All rights reserved.