Former Hillsborough County Sheriff Walter C. Heinrich, 83, dies

TAMPA — Former Hillsborough County Sheriff Walter C. Heinrich died Monday morning. He was 83.

Heinrich, who had 48 years of law enforcement experience, served as sheriff for 14 years beginning in 1978. He was the father of Hillsborough County Circuit Court judge Walter R. Heinrich.

The Sheriff's Office called the death unexpected. No other details were known.

Flags were lowered to half-staff at all Sheriff's Office facilities Monday.

Heinrich was born in Harrington, N.J., in 1926, according to the Sheriff's Office. He moved to the county in the 1940s after serving in the U.S. Navy.

He became a police officer with the Tampa Police Department in 1949, when he was 23.

At 26 he was promoted to sergeant, and a year later he became the youngest officer in the department's history to be named captain.

He studied with the FBI National Academy. commanded TPD's first vice squad and directed homicide and juvenile investigations.

He received the department's first Award of Valor in 1964.

He became a major in 1970 and ran for sheriff eight years later. He was re-elected three times.

Under Heinrich, the sheriff's office became accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.

He also created the Neighborhood Watch program, placed security officers in all the county's junior and senior high schools and created the Truancy Intake Program.

The Hillsborough County Jail at Orient Road opened under his watch in 1990.

Heinrich did not seek reelection in 1992, and retired in December of that year.

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