She was a local pioneer in uniform in a career of firsts.
“I was the first Hispanic female Sargent, first Hispanic female lieutenant, first Hispanic female captain, first Hispanic female major," said retired Maj. Grace O'Donnell.
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When O'Donnell was hired by the department in 1974, her bosses could not find another police department in the United States with a Cuban-born woman officer on staff.
“There were no other Latin females so in the beginning, I used a lot in translations and stuff but still you had to go out and work on the road like everybody else,” she said.
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O'Donnell lived with her parents when she started her police career at the age of 20 - and still had a curfew.
"I think it was 11, I had to be home by 11 p.m.," she said with a laugh.
Female officers did not even wear pants when she was hired and did not even get the same weapons.
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"I had a uniform with a skirt, which really does not lend itself very well to jumping over fences," O'Donnell said. “The men had a four inch barrel gun, we had a three inch barrel gun.”
Eventually, O'Donnell did get pants and a bigger gun but when going on patrol she still had to face another challenge.
“There was some resistance from the guys who didn’t want to ride with a female, but eventually you know, you won them over and you became partners.," she said.
O'Donnell would spend three and a half decades in uniform - all along, seeking one thing.
“Acceptance as an equal, that's all you want is you want to be accepted as an equal," she said. "It’s a male dominated career, and you want to look at it as I want to be a police officer, not just a female police officer, not just a Hispanic police officer."
Since retiring in 2010, she became a reserve officer working with comfort animals. After the Surfside condo collapse in June, O'Donnell brought her trained Dachshund named Jeepers to soothe the grieving.
Now with a total of 368 Hispanic women in the department, O'Donnell looks back on her legacy with gratitude.
“I’m glad I got to put my stamp on the department, I got to make a difference,” she said.
