I wanted to take the time to thank the members of the Tampa Police Department Hockey team that helped make The 1st Annual Cpl. Michael Roberts Charity Hockey Tournament a success this weekend. These officers (Frank Ruedy, Ron Casale, Kenny Nightlinger, and Ron Neipert) basically donated their weekend to play in a two day tournament in New Port Richey, FL to honor Cpl. Mike Roberts and in doing so helped raise a considerable amount of money for Mike's family. Other law enforcement teams from Ft. Lauderdale, Collier County S.O., Sarasota County S.O., Pasco County S.O., Hernando County S.O. and Tampa Fire Rescue also participated and showed the brotherhood that STILL exists amongst us. Too often this website is used for negative postings and rants that we need to remember the "blue line" (and red line) that unites us. Please take some time and personally thank the above mentioned officers for their service and dedication. As a relatively new Tampa Police Officer, I worked on this tournament for months but without the help of them there is no way this tournament would have succeeded. A special thanks also goes out to Communications Technician Rob Finneran who participated in the Competitive division and won a gold medal!!!! Also to note that Frank Ruedy played with a Rec team and won a gold medal!!


Please know that we may have problems at T.P.D. with the budget issues and such but when the time arises, this agency pulls together and performs well above expectations. Having worked at another agency, I know what I have here and trust me I treasure what I have!!!


Officer Kenny Petrillo