12282: For honored officer, patience pays off on Little Haiti streets (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

For honored officer, patience pays off on Little Haiti streets

By Diana Marrero
Miami Bureau
Posted June 9 2002

Miami · Known by fellow officers as the "Haitian Sensation," Pierre-Andre
Roche patrols the streets of Little Haiti as though he were playing a game
of chess -- with patience and strategy.

Roche, named Miami police officer for the month of May, has earned
recognition for his smart yet aggressive style of policing and his devotion
to the community he serves.

Once, he arrested a car thief by not chasing him. Another time, he caught a
man with drugs by arresting him for drinking a beer in public, then
searching him.

Roche was dispatched April 25 to investigate a car theft. Not one to simply
write up a report and move on, Roche spent time canvassing the area and
spotted the car as the suspect was getting out of it. When the man noticed
Roche's marked police car, he ran inside a house. Roche parked nearby and
waited. A short time later, the man left the house wearing a different set
of clothes.

Roche approached the man casually, telling him he was investigating a case
involving a dead dog. Thrown off guard, the man was arrested.

On April 15, Roche arrested a man he suspected was selling drugs despite not
having concrete proof at first. Roche watched the man until he got careless.
When the man opened up a can of beer in public, Roche arrested him with the
little-enforced law against consuming alcohol in public. He then was able to
search the man and found a gram of crack cocaine on him.

"I guess the moral is if you're going to sell crack, don't drink beer on the
street," said Miami Police Lt. Bill Schwartz, who presented Roche with a
plaque during a police awards ceremony last week.

Originally from Haiti, Roche served in the Army's Special Forces during
Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

"I fought in the wars, came back and said I want to be a police officer,"
said Roche, who has served as an officer for six years at the Miami Police
Department. He also worked for three years as a Miami-Dade County Schools
police officer.

Said Schwartz: "He has proven that he has the initiative and commitment to
get a very difficult job done."

Diana Marrero can be reached at dmarrero@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5005.




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