Sheriff Gee Set To Unveil First History Museum Display

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee on Oct. 11 is scheduled to unveil the first display for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office History Museum, an initiative he kicked off last year to caputre the history of the office formed more than 160 years ago.

The unveiling is set to take place at the sheriff's office's training center in the Greater Brandon area of Tampa, at 1409 Falkenburg Road.

Gee reportedly asked several members of his staff last year to begin the process of preserving office history, the first project of which has been created by Major Clyde Eisenberg, Major Alan Hill, Lieutenant Jim Bradford and University of South Florida History Professor Phil Levy.
 
In creating the history museum, the sheriff's office has partnered with the University of South Florida History Department. Master Craftsmen Friedemann Buschbeck of Temple Terrace created the displays.

Earlier this year, at the Quarterly Awards Recognition Ceremony for the third quarter of 2012, Gary Turner showed up at the North Falkenburg Road Jail assembly room wearing a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office uniform that hasn't been worn in decades.

As a retiree, Turner makes it his mission not only to remember the past but to make sure others do, too, and he was being recognized as “a driving force behind the success” of the sheriff's historical project.

For the Sept. 12 awards ceremony, Turner showed up in a dated uniform, sporting a tan shirt, brown pants and, as he noted in an interview, a belt that weighs a lot less than that worn by deputies today.

For more on this story, including more photographs, see Sheriff Gee Gets a Taste of the Past With Old Uniform