IN FOCUS: The future of Longview Police Department
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – In this edition of East Texas In Focus, KETK's Nolan Hoffman spoke with the Chief of the Longview Police Department, Anthony Boone about his plans for the future of policing in the city.
IN FOCUS: Following the legacy of Pope Francis
Boone earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from UT Tyler in 2000 and started working with Longview PD in 2001. He's worked on three patrol shifts, the tactical team, the bicycle team and as a field training officer.
He was promoted to assistant chief in 2015 before earning his master's degree from Tarleton State University in 2019. Boone worked with his predecessor for several years and was then named chief of police in 2022.
'You get hired in your early 20's to be a police officer, and it's about going out and doing patrol work and answering the calls for service and making traffic contacts and so forth. And then as you develop in your career, you realize there's a business side to anything, even in the municipal world. So there's staffing, there's HR stuff to be had, there's training that needs to occur, there's budgets that you have to operate within, cars you have to buy, gas that needs to be in the cars. So, definitely my role has expanded over the almost quarter century at the city of Longview.'
One major challenge the department recently faced was moving into their new headquarters 17 months ago without interrupting their service.
'I definitely think that the move from across the street to here was one of our largest challenges. It was everything that goes into construction and then getting all the finishing touches on to a building beyond just the brick and mortar, making sure everything technologically works and does what it's supposed to,' Boone said. 'Then you have to worry about evidence operations, how you get everything over there, you keep integrity and everything in the process of the move. and so that was, quite a bit of logistics went into to making that move. I think for the most part, it's gone over very well.'
For Boone, their new office helps Longview PD fulfill his mantra of 'Providing Professional Policing' which is how he wants his staff to work with the community.
'I like providing professional policing because it's very simple and we apply it to everything that we do. To me, it is our brand. and it doesn't matter what happens in the rest of the world, but I want our citizens to know that when they call Longview Police Department, they're expecting their professional officer to show up, that's going to help them with their with their situation,' Boone said. 'I tell every new officer that comes on board, really, new officer, new professional employee, new dispatcher that it's really about the brand and this patch is our brand, this badge is our brand. And I want them to to protect that and not let it get tarnished. To me, when you're taking care of the brand and doing the right thing for the right reasons, in the process of that, you're taking care of your community and you're providing them the services that they deserve.'
Part of this approach is what Boone called a sort of customer survey that some community members will get to give feedback to the department on how their officers did on calls. The SPIDR Tech system will display the officer's name and how well they responded to surveyed calls.
'It means so much to us. Not only do we track it as administrators, but we actually even put free space where people can add some additional comments besides just the scoring. We actually publicize those scores internally. So we have a couple monitors throughout the building that are constantly showing that feedback that our public has given us and it even has the officer's name,' Boone said. 'The overwhelming majority of that is very positive and it's great for an officer to see his or her name up there and saying, 'hey this is what this is and after I left, this is what they thought about the service I provided.''
Looking ahead toward the future, Boone said the city is fortunate to have crime rates that are trending down.
'We are very fortunate right now to be on a trend where our homicides are reduced. In fact, really, our crime overall is reduced. I would like to think It's a lot of the efforts that we're, we're trying to do right now. but again, I'm not going to sit here and take take credit for everything that's occurring,' Boone said. 'Going back to our intel division, going back to our push for traffic enforcement, I think when you put all of this together, that's when I think you start to see some advantages to crime situations going on in the community.'
To hear the first half of Nolan's interview with Boone, watch the video above. In a future episode of East Texas In Focus, East Texans will get to hear the rest of Nolan and Boone's conversation which covered issues like homelessness.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CNN
17 minutes ago
- CNN
Social media algorithms boost L.A. protest misinformation in ‘combustible' environment
Offline, in real-world Los Angeles, most Angelenos are having a perfectly normal day. But online, the fires and riots are still raging. The powerful algorithms that fuel social media platforms are feeding users days-old and sometimes completely fake content about the recent unrest in L.A., contributing to a sense of nonstop crisis that doesn't exist beyond a small part of the sprawling city. Unvetted accounts on platforms like X and TikTok, in an apparent bid for clicks, clout and chaos, have preyed on the fears of liberals and conservatives about where last weekend's clashes will lead. An AI-generated fake video on TikTok purported to show a National Guardsman going by the name Bob livestreaming his preparation for 'today's gassing' of protesters. The video has been viewed more than 960,000 times as of Tuesday afternoon. Many in the comments section called the video a fake, but others appeared to believe it was real. (The video, which was debunked by BBC News, appears to have since been taken down.) Get Reliable Sources newsletter Sign up here to receive Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in your inbox. 'What's happening on social media is similar to the chaos of the information environment around the 2020 George Floyd protests,' said Renée DiResta, an associate research professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy and an expert on how conspiracy theories spread online. 'People are trying to discern between real current footage and recycled sensational old footage repurposed for political or financial ends.' In 2025, though, AI-generated images are more abundant, and users have splintered onto different online platforms 'where different stories are being told,' DiResta told CNN. On X, where right-wing views tend to flourish, influencers are denouncing the anti-ICE protesters as agitators and terrorists, while on the more left-wing Bluesky, prominent users are condemning President Trump's deployment of the National Guard. Hyperpartisan and hyperactive accounts on X have been wildly overstating the actual volume of unrest in Southern California, furthering the online confusion about the offline situation. One viral post on X falsely claimed on Sunday that there were 'breaking' news reports that Mexico was considering 'military intervention' in Los Angeles. More than 2 million people have viewed the post as of Tuesday afternoon. Dozens of posts on X have spread conspiracy theories claiming the protesters were government-backed or funded by various sources, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank. Many of those posts have over a million views, and only a handful of them have been fact-checked with X's community notes features. CNN has requested comment from X and TikTok. Recognizing how viral posts can distort public opinion and potentially exacerbate violence, California Governor Gavin Newsom's office on Sunday night pleaded with the public to 'check your sources before sharing info!' in a post on X. The governor's office also directly debunked some of the info. As some protests in L.A. turned ugly on Sunday evening, Senator Ted Cruz shared a shocking video clip of L.A. Police Department cars on fire and wrote, 'this… is… not… peaceful.' The Texas senator's X post implied the video clip was brand-new, but it was actually from 2020, when the racial justice protests tipped into civil unrest. Cruz was reacting to actor James Woods, one of the prominent conservative X users who promoted the five-year-old fire video. Newsom responded to Woods: 'This video is from 2020.' Adding to the confusion, vandals did damage several police cars and set several self-driving cars on fire Sunday evening. But the viral clip reposted by Woods was old. Federal government accounts have been among the misleading sources on social media. A Defense Department 'rapid response' account on X claimed Monday morning that 'Los Angeles is burning, and local leaders are refusing to respond.' But there were no reports of fires burning in L.A. at the time of the Defense Department's claim. Russian and Chinese state media have also amplified images of the unrest, whether real or fake. Chinese state media outlets have 'rapidly seized on the deployment of Marines in the streets of Los Angeles,' the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy, a think tank, said in an analysis shared with CNN. 'In keeping with their coverage of 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, PRC (People's Republic of China) propaganda outlets have used protests in the United States to dent America's image abroad and to suggest that the US government's response to protests at home bears little resemblance to their support for protests overseas,' Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, told CNN. Russian state-controlled outlet Sputnik, meanwhile, circulated a photo, also shared by the actor Woods, purporting to show 'pallets of bricks' at a protest site. But that photo is actually from a construction site in New Jersey, according to X's 'community notes' feature. Russian state media outlets have also echoed false or misleading claims from pro-Trump influencers about left-wing groups and figures funding the protests, according to Schafer. Moscow 'seems less interested in scoring propaganda points and more interested in throwing fuel into a combustible domestic information environment,' he said.


Washington Post
17 minutes ago
- Washington Post
'A UFC fight': Tensions rise in Stanley Cup Final as the Panthers get the upper hand on the Oilers
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Things got chippy in the Stanley Cup Final late in Game 3 when the Florida Panthers were well on their way to blowing out the Edmonton Oilers. Brawls ensued, Darnell Nurse and Jonah Gadjovich dropped the gloves, and eight guys got sent to the showers early with misconduct penalties.


CNN
23 minutes ago
- CNN
Mexican flags at LA protests spark heated debate
Mexican flags at LA protests spark heated debate Mexico's flag has become a defining symbol of the protests in Los Angeles, sparking a heated debate amongst the Latino community about whether or not it's disrespectful. CNN's Rafael Romo breaks down the debate and what the it means to be Mexican-American right now. 01:53 - Source: CNN Vertical Top News 14 videos Mexican flags at LA protests spark heated debate Mexico's flag has become a defining symbol of the protests in Los Angeles, sparking a heated debate amongst the Latino community about whether or not it's disrespectful. CNN's Rafael Romo breaks down the debate and what the it means to be Mexican-American right now. 01:53 - Source: CNN Tanks arrive in DC ahead of US Army parade As the 250th anniversary celebration for the US Army approaches, a freight train of tanks was seen making its way into the nation's capital. The long-planned celebration in Washington will coincide with Trump's 79th birthday and include thousands of troops. The Army had said it has no plans to recognize the president's birthday. 00:40 - Source: CNN Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe shot in Bogota A Colombian senator and presidential hopeful is in a critical condition after being shot twice at an event in Bogota, according to national police and prosecutors. Police arrested a 15-year-old carrying a Glock pistol, according to the Attorney General's Office. Miguel Uribe expressed intentions to run in the 2026 presidential election for the country's largest opposition party, the center-right Centro Democrático, or Democratic Center. 01:05 - Source: CNN Immigration protests break out in Los Angeles President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to disperse the protests that began in the Los Angeles area in response to immigration raids. Law enforcement authorities and demonstrators have clashed for two days. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones reports. 01:34 - Source: CNN Coco Gauff reacts to winning the French Open Coco Gauff claimed her second career grand slam singles title, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open women's final. 00:46 - Source: CNN Protesters confront authorities following ICE raids in Los Angeles Federal immigration operations in Los Angeles were met by protests. ICE declined to discuss the details of its operations. 00:43 - Source: CNN Attorney for mistakenly deported man talks to Erin Burnett CNN's Erin Burnett talks with Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, attorney for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, who has been returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges. 02:37 - Source: CNN Trump Admin targets LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month CNN's Ben Hunte breaks down how the Trump Administration has targeted the LGBTQ+ community with its policies in just the first few days of Pride Month. 02:09 - Source: CNN Former 'Diddy' girlfriend reveals 'love contract' A former romantic partner for Sean 'Diddy' Combs using the pseudonym 'Jane' described feeling financially coerced and revealed Combs is still paying for her rent, even as she testified against him at trial. Prosecutors hope the testimony by 'Jane' will drive home charges that include sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 01:30 - Source: CNN Trump's border czar on 3 US children leaving the country with their deported mothers White House border czar Tom Homan defended the Trump administration's move to deport three US citizen children last week. Homan told CNN's Priscilla Alvarez the children's parents, who were in the US illegally, made a "parental decision" to leave the country together. Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, denies that the mothers were given a choice whether their children could remain in the US. 01:07 - Source: CNN Trump on Musk: 'The poor guy's got a problem' In a phone call with CNN's Dana Bash, President Donald Trump said he is 'not even thinking about' billionaire Elon Musk and won't be speaking to him in the near future. The comments come a day after Trump and Musk traded barbs on social media as their relationship deteriorated in spectacular public fashion. 00:43 - Source: CNN No aliens here: Research disputes possible 'signs of life' on another planet In response to hints of "biosignatures" found on a world called K2-18b, new research suggests there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the exoplanet. CNN's Ashley Strickland reports on the ongoing scientific discourse around the search for extraterrestrial life. 00:43 - Source: CNN Reporter: Trump made $1 billion in crypto in 9 months CNN's Erin Burnett talks with Forbes Magazine's Dan Alexander about President Donald Trump's stunning ownership of billions of dollars worth of crypto. 02:19 - Source: CNN Russia launches strikes across Ukraine Russia launched waves of drones and ballistic missiles at multiple targets across a broad swath of Ukraine overnight killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv and wounding around 40 across the country. 00:32 - Source: CNN