Longboat Key Police Detective Kris Roberts retires

Longtime Longboat Key Police Detective Capt. Kris Roberts celebrated her retirement during a July 7 ceremony at the police station.

Roberts began her career as a dispatcher in 1981 with the Loveland Police Department. She moved to theSarasota area to be closer to her parents one year later and joined the Longboat Key department as a dispatcher in January 1983. She became a police officer in 1987 — the second female police officer in town history.

She says she honed her investigative skills by working with “great guys” — and being curious and downright nosy by nature. As an officer, she always looked for something extra at crime scenes, like a fingerprint or footprint. She got promoted to road sergeant, then road lieutenant before becoming captain/detective in 2002.

Many of the cases she investigated involved property crimes, such as burglary, larceny and fraud.
Roberts’ talent for investigating economic crimes is especially unique, according to Police Chief Pete Cumming.

“We probably have more of that crime out here than other kinds of crimes,” Cumming said. “What I don’t need out here is a great homicide detective. White collar crime leaves a paper trail. You have to put it together and start connecting the dots and crunching the numbers. It’s a specialty that not everyone can do.”

At Monday’s ceremony, Roberts spoke briefly after accepting a plaque from Cumming.

“Thirty years here went by fast, it really did,” she said. “Every day was different. Every day was a challenge.”
Sgt. Robert Bourque will take over the role of detective.

Also at Monday’s ceremony, Jeff Morningstar was sworn in to the role of sergeant. He is a nine-year veteran Longboat Key officer.

For more information, pick up a July 10 copy of the Longboat Observer.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].