The first thing Fremont’s new police chief, Kimberly Petersen, said in a phone interview earlier this month was that she’s happy to talk about her personal life, but would prefer to “get away from the whole openly gay thing.”
Since assuming the role in July after 22 years on the force, Fremont’s first openly-gay and female police chief has been a bit overwhelmed by the focus on her gender and sexual orientation, rather than the work she does.
A Santa Cruz local who was raised in Aptos, Petersen, 48, comes off as friendly, committed and no-nonsense. She didn’t grow up dreaming of being a police officer. In high school and college, she was a serious athlete and professional soccer player who played with FIFA stars such as Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy.
“Soccer helped me get into some great schools and open doors,” Petersen said.
Petersen earned a degree in human biology at Stanford University — but in the midst of it, ran out of money. To pay her tuition, she played professionally in Japan for two years.
It wasn’t until a year out of college, when a friend of hers on the police force in Santa Clara invited her for a ride along, that she instantly knew she wanted to join the police.
“You get to be outdoors and not in an office, every day is different. It’s exciting, it’s a team environment. I never looked back,” she said.
She was hired in Fremont in 1996, and has worked her way through the ranks. She was the first woman in the department’s SWAT team, where she pioneered and led the Tactical Emergency Medical Support Team, and has also served as sergeant, lieutenant and captain, where she managed jail and animal services, before being promoted to chief.
Petersen, who lives in Felton with her wife — a former officer with the Los Angeles Police Department — and their three children, says she never came out to her coworkers, because most people just caught on. “They do detailed background checks, so I think some people knew,” she said, adding “I don’t feel it was a barrier to attaining the things I wanted.” Despite the overall support throughout her career, Petersen does admit that when she started out “it was a different time, so not as widely accepted. I kept it to myself in training … I did grow a thicker skin.”
As police chief in Fremont, a population of 230,000, Petersen oversees 311 full-time employees, 199 of whom are sworn police officers, only 10 percent of whom are women. She would like to see more women join the force, as well as members of the Afghan community, which she says is the largest outside Afghanistan.
Asked about the challenges she faces having been in the field for over 20 years, Petersen points to the need for police to build better relationships with the population it serves. “We have all been dealing with Ferguson and Freddie Gray, challenging us to be better. It has left a deepening divide between police and segments of some communities. We are working on gaining trust and support from communities,” she said.
Petersen also talked about the challenge of homelessness, a growing problem familiar in Santa Cruz and across California, which has spiked significantly in Fremont. Petersen says 50 percent of calls deal with homelessness.
