Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Robert Acosta is the new community resource deputy for Ruskin and Apollo Beach. He replaces Deputy Yvette Hibbard, who recently returned to patrol services.
Acosta, 57, joined the Sheriff’s Office as a Reserve 2 volunteer deputy in 1994, working on assignment 80 hours a month alongside fulltime HCSO deputies while raising a family and working a fulltime job. He attended and graduated from the Hillsborough Community College Police Academy, before beginning his full-time law enforcement career in 2004.
Since then, Acosta has served in various positions with the HCSO, starting as a street patrol deputy in 2004 for District 4. His resume includes a year on patrol in District 5; three years for the HCSO Civil Unit (handling evictions and court injunctions); two years as a community resource deputy in District 5; a year in Community Outreach, where he helped plan and execute major HCSO-sponsored events and fundraisers; and, since 2024, working patrol again back in District 4. He assumed his current role as community resource deputy in July 25…