Although he is gone, the legacy and influence of law enforcement officer Matt Peake will continue, thanks to a special gift on his birthday to the Winnsboro Department of Public Safety.

Matt Peake’s family celebrated his 25th birthday by donating $500 to the narcotics enforcement efforts of the WDPS.

Although he was not a WDPS officer at the time of his death in August, while he was at the WDPS he had a profound influence on the drug enforcement efforts there, said WDPS Chief Wayne Yates.

“When he was here, within two years, Matt had achieved the rank of Sergeant. He also was very instrumental in the drug investigations efforts, and he started the H.I.R.T. (High Intensity Response Team,) that specializes in serving the search warrants on drug cases, and working the narcotics investigations,” Chief Yates said.

“He was the driving force behind that; without him, we probably would not have been able to achieve it in as short a time as we did.

“Matt is still with us; I see the effect of everything he did and how he carried himself as a police officer and the enthusiasm that he had toward the job, in a lot of the officers he worked with.”

Chief Yates recalled a favorite saying Matt had when people would criticize the WDPS about the work they were doing that shows his concern for the whole drug war and what it did to people.

“When people would talk bad about the police and the job we were doing, when he had to go out here and arrest people for breaking the narcotics laws, his comeback line was ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game.’

Matt’s father Billy and Billy’s wife Cynthia made the donation at the department.

“Matt was into protecting the citizens,” his father Billy said.

“October 18 was his birthday, and we made the donation because we felt like that’s what he would have wanted. Anything to help kids or get kids off drugs, he would have been all for that.”