For the last 62 years, local law enforcement have been honored at the annual East Hillsborough Law Enforcement Appreciation Dinner.
This year was no different, as more than 500 people, including personnel of the Plant City Police Department (PCPD), Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), Florida Highway Patrol and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and their families, local dignitaries and elected officials came together at the Florida Strawberry Festival’s TECO Expo Hall on May 14 to break bread (thanks to Johnson’s Barbeque) and recognize the important work the agencies do to keep uphold the law and protect citizens.
Bill McDaniel, Association Chairman, was the emcee for the event and spoke words of appreciation to the attendees. “We express appreciation for the men and women of law enforcement who serve and protect our community,” he said.
He recognized the generosity of many event sponsors, including the platinum sponsor, The Sudler Family Foundation, the charitable arm of Sudler Companies, who have been instrumental in building many projects in Plant City, including the Southern Oaks Business Park. “While they couldn’t be in attendance, they donated their table to one of our law enforcement award recipients and his guests,” said McDaniel.
Each individual department honored one member of their force with the “East Hillsborough County Officers of the Year” award.
PCPD named Officer Francisco Rosales as its Officer of the Year. Rosales started with PCPD in 2017 and has served the community in a myriad of ways, most notably when, on December 17, 2023, he saved two patients by providing CPR until paramedics arrived at the scene.
HCSO selected Deputy Jonah Daniel as its Deputy of the Year. Daniel was sworn in with HCSO in 2022 and was recognized for his contribution in significantly decreasing crime rates within HCSO’s District II in Eastern Hillsborough County and his keen ability to leverage his ability to analyze information and conduct proactive patrols.
FHP’s Trooper of the Year is Sergeant Jason Moore, who began his career with the department in 2009. Throughout 2023, Moore conducted aggressive traffic enforcement that did not involve pursuits, making eight arrests for racing and two arrests for reckless driving. During 2023, he also responded to 14 pursuits involving FHP troopers, three of which he became actively involved as a backup officer.
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission honored Officer Specialist Robert Rivard, a Florida native who joined the commission in 2007 after an illustrious Army career. He has earned the FWC Case of the Month award 13 times since 2019. In 2023, he arrested individuals for saltwater fisheries crimes, freshwater fisheries violations, warrants, criminal traffic, derelict vessels, hit and run boating accidents, duck hunting, hunting from the roadway, felony littering, drugs and felony possession of alligators and captive wildlife (that last one happened right here in Plant City after a resident was caught with a pet alligator and bobcat).
The banquet is the brainchild of community leaders John Pollock, Foy Lee, Carl Schumacher, Wiley Gillespie and Percy Wheeler, Jr., who formed the East Hillsborough Law Enforcement Appreciation Association Inc. following the death of Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department (now Office) Sergeant Ben Wilder, 39, an eight-year veteran of the department, was shot and killed on Sun., July 22, 1962, while he and two other deputies were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on an individual who fired a shotgun at a relative during an argument over possession of an electric fan. The incident occurred at a home located southeast of Plant City. Deputy Perry Young was also injured; Young later had his arm amputated as a result of the shotgun blast.
After law enforcement officers from a variety of state and local agencies responded to the scene and surrounded the house in the darkness, and after multiple rounds of tear gas were fired into the house, the killer came out the front door, pointed his shotgun at a nearby deputy and was immediately shot and killed by police gunfire.
Not long after the incident, the East Hillsborough Law Enforcement Appreciation Association, Inc. was founded. Many board members have volunteered with the association for decades. “This is a commitment once you make it you tend to stick with it,” said McDaniel.