Orlando Police Department appoints new LGBT Police/Community Liaison

Sergeant Grace Peek

ORLANDO | Chief John Mina of the Orlando Police Department appointed Sergeant Grace Peek as the agency’s new LGBT police/community liaison.

Peek takes over for Lieutenant Jim Young who was appointed to the position upon its creation in 2014. Peek has been acting as Young’s assistant over the last year.

“Lt. Young is still around,” Peek says. “He isn’t going anywhere. He stepped into a new position within the department so I had been taking over some of the meetings and trainings that go with being the liaison to the LGBT community to help him free up time for his new role.”

Mina officially announced Peek as the new LGBT liaison Sept. 21.

“I will still run things by Lt. Young. I mean, he’s a lieutenant and I’m a sergeant so it just works that way anyways,” Peek says, laughing. “He’s great and has been there for me and helped me get integrated into the community. He has been around and has been an amazing asset between the department and the community. I’ve really learned a lot from him, and I continue to learn a lot from him, to this day.”

Peek has been an officer with the OPD for more than 18 years. She has worked in various sections of patrol, in the Drug Enforcement Division, OPD’s Emergency Response Team and currently serves on the Critical Incident Stress Management Team. Peek has also been named Officer of the Year, but that comes as no surprise for an officer who consistency wants to know what she can do to help.

“Lt. Young was my patrol supervisor and I was always asking, ‘Hey, what can I do? I want to help and do whatever I can,’” Peek says. “I think what I really did was I just bugged him into giving me the position because I really wanted to be involved in the community, and being the LGBT liaison seemed like a perfect fit to me being an out lesbian in the department. I think it just became my job to relieve him of those duties of representing the department when it comes to our community.”

Peek has stepped up her involvement in the LGBTQ community over the last year, especially after the tragic events at Pulse in June 2016. She has served on several community boards and is a member of the OnePULSE Foundation Memorial task force. Peek is also the one you are most likely to see driving the Orlando United/Pulse tribute patrol car, but Peek says the importance of the position is much more than just driving the car and attending events.

“We have a very large LGBT community within Orlando. In fact, it kind of surprised me just how large our community is here,” Peek says. “I think it’s important for everyone, not just gays and lesbians, to have a voice within their community. I think my role is to be a voice in the community when it comes to the specific problems that LGBT people deal with. Sometimes our problems are a little bit different, or how we see or perceive things might be a little bit different. So I think it was good that OPD created this position.”

Peek grew up in Tennessee and spent 27 years serving in the United States Navy: 14 years active duty and 13 years in the Naval Reserves. While many might find it difficult to serve in either the military or on a police force as an openly out member of the LGBTQ community, Peek says that she has been lucky enough in both careers to be surrounded by caring people who looked out for her.

“I’ve only had two jobs my entire life—the military and working as an officer with the OPD—so I don’t have a lot of civilian experience to compare to it, ”she says. “When I first went into the Navy you could not be out. You could be separated from the military if they found out you were gay or lesbian. As the years went by it kind of relaxed a bit. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ came around, but honestly I never really had any problems with it in the military. I’ve been gay all my life and I’ve never really hid anything but I never had any issues.

“I’m probably one of the fortunate ones because I know there were a lot of them that did have problems,” Peeks continued. “I think I got lucky with my commanders and bosses because they didn’t really care. As long as you did your job, they were there for you. I was not out the way I am now; obviously, now I am very out. Then when I came into the police department, I never had any problems. I’ve never had anyone openly say anything negative to me.”

Peek is only a few years away from serving 20 years as an OPD officer, and with two decades under her police belt she may start looking at retiring. Until then she is enjoying her time in the community spotlight.

“I don’t know if it’s just that the community really came together after Pulse, I mean it was probably inevitable, but when I look at this community I just see all good, positive things coming,” Peek says.

Main image: Orlando Police Chief John Mina (L) and new LGBT Police/Community Liaison Sgt. Grace Peek. (Photos courtesy Sgt. Peek.)

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