Community Corner

Pirates Share Booty With Mayor Buckhorn, Tampa Police

The special "badges of thanks" were given out during a Tuesday presentation.

Pirates can be a giving lot.

At least that was the case in Tampa Tuesday when members of Ye Mystic Krewe presented Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Police Chief Jane Castor and Assistant Chief John Bennett with a share of their booty.

The pirates invaded the Tampa Police Department’s downtown headquarters on North Franklin Street around 10:30 a.m. to present the dignitaries with “official Gasparilla badges” to wear during the upcoming Gasparilla event season.

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The badges commemorate the 100th Gasparilla parade and serve as thanks for Castor’s oversight of security during the annual community event. The badges also mark “the 100th year that Ye Mystic Krewe and the Tampa Police Department have partnered to ensure the invasion is smooth sailing and the parade is a safe event,” the city said in a media release.

Police officers will start wearing the special badges in time for the Jan. 24 Children’s Parade and are expected to do so until the Jose Gasparilla II pirate ship leaves town March 7.

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For a complete lineup of Gasparilla events, visit the event’s website.

Photo courtesy of the Tampa Police Department


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