Sheriff Walter Heinrich

Biographical Sketch of Walter C. Heinrich Walter C. Heinrich retired as a Captain in charge of the Crime Prevention Bureau of the Tampa Police Department, where he served from October 1, 1949 to July 1, 1970. He then joined the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office as a Major and established the Crime Prevention Division dealing with the education of our young people in the basics of good citizenship and instructing the public as to their role in community law enforcement. He was subsequently reassigned to head the Criminal Investigation Division as Commander, where he served until his resignation in July of 1978 to run for Sheriff of Hillsborough County. He won the election in September of that year, was re-elected unopposed in 1980, was re-elected again in 1984 and in 1988. Sheriff Heinrich is married to Phyllis, a registered nurse and they have three children, Walter R., an attorney practicing in Hillsborough County; Linda, a graduate of the University of South Florida, working as a Court Clerk for the Circuit Court, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit; and, Cindy, a graduate of the Nursing Program at the University of South Florida, married and working as a registered nurse in Birmingham, Alabama. The Sheriff graduated with honors from St. Petersburg Junior College with an Associate in Arts Degree in Police Administration and from the University of Tampa with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Criminology. He is also a graduate of the Juvenile Officers' Institute at the University of Minnesota and from the F.B.I. Academy, 51st Session. He has served as a member of the faculty, part time instructor at the Tampa Police Academ, the University of Tampa and as an interim lecturer at the University of South Florida.

Sheriff Heinrich is actively involved in community relations. He has served as a consultant for annual Regional Institutes on Police-Community Relations. Presently he serves by appointment of the Governor on the Florida Council on Criminal Justice and the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission. In addition, he is a Past President of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Tampa and a member of the University of Tampa's Board of Fellows. Sheriff Heinrich is a member of the Salvation Army's Advisory Committee and served for five years as Chairman of their Christmas Kettle project. Additionally, he serves on the National Sheriff's Association Drug Enforcement and Prevention Committee and their Large Urban County Sheriff's Committee. Presently he serves on the State Task Force on Crimes and the Elderly. In 1986, after two years of intensive preparation, Sheriff Heinrich accepted National Law Enforcement Accreditation for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the first Sheriff's Office in Florida to be so honored. Presently, work is proceeding toward completing requirements for the National Corrections Accrediatation. These pursuits are in keeping with Sheriff Heinrich's mandate of professionalism for his personnel. Taken from the introduction for Sheriff Heinrich when he visited the Thonotosassa Chamber.