New License Plate Honoring Fallen Officers to be Unveiled at Pinellas Park High

If passed during the 2013 Florida Legislative Session, a new specialty license plate would help raise funds for the Police and Kids Foundation, Inc. 

Sen. Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater) and Rep. Dwight Dudley (D-St. Petersburg) have filed Senate Bill 712 and House Bill 911. The bills would create a specialty license plate to honor law enforcement officers that are killed in the line of duty, according to a press release.

The annual fee for the specialty plate would be $25 with seventy percent of the funds going towards training and equipment for law enforcement officer safety and thirty percent towards education. This could include high school programs that have a law enforcement education focus or a scholarship for a student in the police academy, according to the release.

Lawmakers are joining with Operation 10-24, the Criminal Justice Academy at Pinellas Park High School to announce their efforts on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. at Pinellas Park High School at 6305 118th Ave N in Largo.

The students in Operation 10-24 came up with the specialty tag idea and brought it to Sen. Latvala.

Lorraine Yaslowitz is expect to attend the event. Lorraine's husband, St. Petersburg K9 Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz was killed in the line of duty on Jan. 24, 2011, along with Sgt. Thomas J. Baitinger. Less than a month later, Officer David S. Crawford was fatally shot on Monday, Feb. 21, 2011.

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