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Tampa uncuffed

His name is in history books, but not his face

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published January 12, 2006

Six decades after his death, Tampa police Detective Joe Nance remains very much a mystery.

But department historians are determined to keep digging for information, given Nance's important place in Tampa police history.

Nance is thought to be the first African-American Tampa police officer to die in the line of duty. Even so, the Tampa Police Memorial Committee has yet to find any pictures of Nance. The local paper of the day, the Tampa Morning Tribune, carried scant information on Nance's death or his personal background.

"Because he was black, he probably wouldn't have been photographed, and there wouldn't have been much written," said Tampa Detective Bert Baptista, a history buff who does research for the Tampa Police Museum. "Unfortunately, back then, it's just the way it was."

Baptista knows this: Nance was a homicide detective on his way to Lakeland to interview a witness when a truck forced his vehicle off the road Sept. 25, 1939.

Nance was admitted to a Lakeland hospital with serious injuries, and within days he developed pneumonia. He died Oct. 1, 1939, at 10 a.m. He was 57, and had spent 18 years with Tampa police.

He was well known within the community, but historians have not found any family members.

Baptista went to Lakeland looking for newspaper archives or other information with no luck. He's holding out hope that someone is out there with answers about Nance.

Call Baptista at (813) 274-5843 if you know anything about Nance.

HELPING SULPHUR SPRINGS YOUTHS: For more than a year, Tampa police have worked - undercover and in uniform - to snuff out the drug trade in Sulphur Springs.

Police have arrested dozens of low-level drug dealers and upper-tier suppliers. They've seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, plus guns, vehicles, cocaine and heroin. A big sweep in November netted another few dozen dealers and made local headlines.

Now, police and federal grant coordinators are working with businesses and schools to provide education and job opportunities for the youths of Sulphur Springs, a neighborhood whose mineral-rich waters once drew tourists from across the country.

Sulphur Springs' first ever career fair will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the George Bartholomew North Tampa Community Center, 8608 N 12th St., for residents between 14 and 21 years old.

"This is to get these kids to start thinking about their future," said event planner Earl Silas, 53.

He is site coordinator for the federally funded Weed and Seed grant, which financed the Rich House, a drug house-turned-youth center in Sulphur Springs.

Silas and Ellen Snelling of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance started planning the career fair in the fall. They lined up 20 vendors, including representatives from the military, the University of South Florida, Hillsborough Community College, the Police Department, the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office and local technical schools including Erwin Technical Center.

Representatives from Washington Mutual and the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance will be on hand, too.

"My job is to create opportunities for the community," Silas said. "That's what this is."

VIGILENCE PAYS OFF: Apparently, shopping malls swarming with police officers aren't ideal targets for would-be car thieves and burglars.

Tampa police stepped up their presence at International Plaza and Westshore Plaza during the holidays, patrolling parking lots on horseback, bikes and in unmarked cars.

The resulting crime stats came back this week and police officials are happier than a kid on Christmas morning.

Auto burglaries dropped 75 percent compared to the 2004 holiday season. Auto thefts dropped 50 percent.

Contact Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 12, 2006, 01:21:24]