When she is sworn in Oct. 1 as the new chief of the Tampa Police Department, Jane Castor will become the first female, as well as openly lesbian, chief in Florida.

The pioneering Castor, 49, rose through the ranks of the department, where she has worked various assignments including patrol, narcotics, family violence and sex crimes, and criminal intelligence.

Castor, who was appointed by Mayor Pam Iorio, replaces Steve Hogue, who has presided over the department since 2003. Her starting salary will be $144,394, according to a city press release .

This year, she was named the law enforcement executive of the year by the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE).

As assistant chief, Castor was selected to lead the Department of Homeland Security's Tampa Bay Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). She managed the program's $56 million budget and has worked to make the Tampa Bay area less vulnerable to a terrorist attack and better equipped to respond to a natural disaster, according to the city.

Through her work with UASI, Castor secured the federal grant to implement the Tampa Police Department's new, state-of-the-art radio system. She served on the selection committee and oversaw the installation of the new system that improves officer safety.

Castor has a bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Tampa and a master's in public administration from Troy State University.  She is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Though her appointment is historically significant to South Florida's LGBT community, Castor treats it as a non-issue, the Miami Herald reports .