Laser shines as tribute to fallen Tampa officers

As workers installed the new memorial for the fallen Tampa officers, Cindy Roberts avoided downtown.

She wanted to be moved Thursday night by the experience of seeing the thin blue line of laser light shine across downtown.

"This memorial now is absolutely breathtaking," Roberts said after the ceremony. "It's sad that they had to do it. It had to be done. Unfortunately, we keep losing officers."

Three Tampa police officers have been killed in the line of duty in the past 19 months.

Roberts lost her husband, Cpl. Mike Roberts, when he was fatally shot Aug. 19, 2009. Tampa police officers Jeffrey Kocab and David Curtis were shot and killed June 29.

Roberts said it is helpful that the city honors the fallen and their families with a new addition to the memorial of fallen officers. In 1997, crews built the original memorial where now the names of 31 Tampa officers who have died in the line of duty since 1895 are etched on a granite monument outside police headquarters.

"It's very comforting. It means a lot," Roberts said.

"I feel bad for the cities that don't have memorials for their officers," she said.

Last year, Roberts attended National Police Week in Washington, D.C., where a similar but not permanent laser is displayed to honor the fallen officers. The same emotion she experienced then, she felt again Thursday when Tampa's permanent thin blue laser was lit, she said.

"I am awestruck, and I will be every time I come downtown," Roberts said.

Officer Shane Gadoury also attended National Police Week and was moved by the laser tribute. He returned to Tampa and proposed the idea to a police committee, police Chief Jane Castor and Mayor Pam Iorio, who supported it.

"I want the light to remind the families of the fallen that they won't be forgotten," Gadoury said. "It's a reminder to the community that the officers are putting themselves at risk to make sure they are safe."

"I think it is everything we hoped for and more."

The laser stretches approximately 400 feet from police headquarters to the top of the 36-story BB&T building on North Franklin Street. It will be illuminated nightly from sunset to midnight.

The Federal Aviation Administration signed off on the tribute in November, saying it wouldn't affect air traffic.

St. Petersburg-based LumaStream provided the LED lighting; One Stop Laser Shop in Clearwater supplied the laser. Susan and John Sykes offered a money contribution.

They were all honored at Thursday's ceremony.

Iorio paid a special tribute to the people who rallied together and made the thin blue laser memorial a reality. She joked that she had told them that she wanted it done before her last day in office, which is April 1.

"You can pray here," Iorio said. "You can think about who we've lost and their lives and their sacrifices."

"What we mourn is the lost of the very best," Iorio said. "With TPD, they are the very best."

"I will never forget their sacrifice."

This year, three St. Petersburg officers have died in the line of duty. Last month, Officer David Crawford was fatally shot. In January, Sgt. Thomas Baitinger and Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz died in a gunfight with a suspect holed up in an attic.

Roberts said she has attended the wakes for the officers and has spoken to the widows.

"I felt a connection with them," Roberts said. "Instantly, it took me back to what it felt to me in those first several days."

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