S.W.A.T.

To minimize the risk of serious injury to officers and citizens during a crisis situation, the department maintains a specialized unit of officers who are trained and equipped to deal with such events. The Special Weapons and Tactics Team (S.W.A.T.) is responsible for responding to and resolving critical incidents and unusual occurrences involving extreme violence or the risk of such.
 
 The S.W.A.T. Team is a multi-agency team consisting of officers from the Gregg County Sheriff's Office, and paramedics from the Longview Fire Department. The S.W.A.T. Team is a part-time assignment, whose members have other assignments within their respective departments. The S.W.A.T. Team trains several days each month.
 
 Several of the team’s members are deployed across the three shifts as a “First Responders.” These officers have the important task of responding to violent crimes to mitigate a violent episode in the early stages, thus saving lives.
 
 The S.W.A.T. Team assists the County Organized Drug Enforcement Unit in the execution of high-risk search warrants. The team also responds to barricaded persons calls and assists the DEA, FBI, ICE, and the U.S. Marshal's Office with arrest warrants. Additionally, the team has also been utilized to augment the Secret Service protection detail during presidential visits like Vice President Cheney in 2004 and more recently Former President George H.W. Bush in 2019.

LESO Public Disclosure

The Longview Police Department participates in the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO or “1033 Program”) Program via the State of Texas (DPS) and the United States government Department of Defense (DoD) as authorized by the Secretary of Defense. The Department of Defense (DoD) is authorized by 10 USC § 2576a to transfer to Federal and State Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), personal property that is excess to the needs of the Department of Defense (DoD), that the Secretary of Defense determines is suitable to be used by such agencies in law enforcement activities, with preferences for counter-drug/counter-terrorism, disaster-related emergency preparedness or border security activities.

Via this program the Longview Police Department may potentially request and acquire any controlled property deemed necessary, contained on the comprehensive list outlined below, from the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) Program within the following fiscal year.  Should there be any changes to the list of controlled property that could potentially be requested or acquired this department will notify the public and the Civilian Governing Body no later than July 1st of each consecutive year, by providing an updated comprehensive list of potential property.

The comprehensive list of potential property is as follows:
Weapon parts, Training Weapons, Vehicle parts, Weapon-mounted optics & lasers, Handheld Optics & lasers, Night Vision Devices (including thermal equipment), Optical & sighting equipment (range finders, boresights etc), Wheel assemblies, Tools (hand, pneumatic & power), Purpose-built Handheld Breaching Equipment, Decontamination Equipment, Computers & peripherals, Camouflage & deception equipment, Radio & Telephone Equipment, Generators, Lighting & observation towers, Capability Sets, and Camera Sets.

More information regarding this program can be found at Texas Department of Public Safety website under the “Texas LESO Program.”