Before Major George A. Perez donned a police uniform, he was a dee jay for Power 96 working with “D.J.” Laz, and at a local Latin radio station, where he was living out his childhood dream.
But he answered his true calling in life after his family members were victims of crime, especially his mother.
“I have a vested interest after my family fell victims to crime, my mother in particular,” said Perez, who is the new Miami Lakes town police commander. “Life calls on you for something very important to do.”
Perez has been a police officer since 2000.
Besides combating crime, he said the position was a way to establish a good relationship with law enforcement and people in the community.
He previously worked for the Miami-Dade Police Homicide Bureau, investigating murders and police-involved shootings, Internal Affairs and the General Investigation Unit.
“It was the most profound experience of my life, and it continues to be,” he said of probing murders. “There were numerous assignments on how they affected you as a person and the impact they had on the community.”
When he applied for the police commander post in Miami Lakes, Perez said he did research on the entire town and knew it was the place where he wanted to work.
The Cutler Ridge resident said he has relatives living in the town where his new position is a far cry from investigating murder cases.
Since incorporation in 2000, Miami Lakes has had a relatively low crime rate.
“It’s a city with no crime,” he said. “I knew little about it at the time but doing research and the short time I have been working here, I feel like I know Miami Lakes. Miami Lakes is a city when it incorporated, it got it right the first time.”
He said he loves the hometown feeling and his family may ask him to move here.
“I told my kids I was walking down Main Street and saw the pumpkin patch,” he said. “The hometown feeling is something special here.”
Perez’s first experience with the police was as a member of the Police Explorers and Boy Scouts.
During his time in the music industry, he never lost sight of becoming a police officer, and the incidents with his family members prompted a career change.
“To be a police officer, you work with the community and see a lot of different things, where you can pick up the phone, which is a wonderful vehicle, and do something about things,” he said.
Perez said he is anxious to meet the residents of Miami Lakes and address their concerns.
Perez and his wife, Christina, have two teenage children.
He said being a police officer doesn’t define him. “Being a father does,” he said.
His hobbies are fatherhood, fishing, photography and smoking cigars.
Perez said he wouldn’t mind volunteering as a dee jay for town events for kids.
“I would love to do it for fun,” he said.