LOS ANGELES : LAPD Officer’s Name to Be Added to AIDS Quilt

The name of a Los Angeles Police Department officer who died of AIDS in 1990 will be added to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the first of more than 24,000 quilt panels to bear the name of a Southern California law enforcement officer.

Saying that one of Christopher Carlee’s last requests was to be included in the quilt, Sgt. Mitchell Grobeson presented the panel Thursday to the local chapter of the national NAMES Project, which oversees the quilt that displays names of people who have died of AIDS.

Carlee, who was on the Los Angeles force for six years, is believed to be the first LAPD officer to die of AIDS.

Grobeson--a gay officer who was recently reinstated to the LAPD as a result of a discrimination lawsuit he filed against the department--also said Thursday that he will begin his own informal recruiting effort within the gay community. He said is not representing the department but will act on his own time.