Law Enforcement Museum Guide Hits Collection Milestone

Retired police sergeant Robert Burdewick bought a souvenir while on a work-related trip to Bermuda 50 years ago.

The souvenir was a policeman figurine wearing Bermuda shorts and an English helmet.

That first figurine, which he put on display in his Long Island home, started what's become the "Robert G. Burdewick Police Statue Collection" of 2,000 strong, a large part of which is on display at the on Douglas Avenue in Dunedin.

No. 2,000, he said, was recently purchased through eBay.com from a collector in Texas. 

Burdewick, 79, retired from the police force in Nassau County, NY, in 1979, and then moved with his family to Dunedin. He eventually became involved with the museum’s board of directors, where he now gives guided tours.

Burdewick often entertains guests with stories of some of the 1,200 police-themed figurines on display at the museum.

Those figurines and statuettes come from 22 countries including Fiji and Kenya, and range in size from miniature (three-eighths of an inch) to life-size mannequin (6-foot-4-inches). One is even autographed by famed 1970s “CHiPs” police television series star Erik Estrada, Burdewick wrote in an account he emailed to Dunedin Patch.

Burdewick has 800 more figurines in his Paloma Lane home. They can be found in every room, he said, except his bathroom. “That room is sacred,” he wrote.

Burdewick continues to collect police-themed action figures and statues, and believes his collection may be the largest in the world.

“Who knows where it will end ... I’m still going strong,” he wrote.  

If you have a police-themed figurine and would like to contact Burdewick, he can be reached at sgtbob206@ij.net or 727-733-6757.