16199: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Police work a calling for highest-ranking Haitian-Americ (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Jul. 26, 2003

Police work a calling for highest-ranking Haitian-American cop
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@herald.com


Laws often get lost in translation, and Miami-Dade County's highest-ranking
Haitian-American police officer sees it as his job to make sure it doesn't
happen.

Just promoted to lieutenant with the Northside branch, Garry Jeanniton says
he is well equipped to tackle the thorny challenges in a district that is
the second smallest in the county's nine zones (16.4 square miles, to be
exact) but the highest in number of violent crimes.

''To me, it's so routine. Robberies and shootings -- they come with the
job,'' Jeanniton said at his Spartan office desk, immaculate and monastic.
``People say once you leave here, you should be able to work anywhere.''

Jeanniton, who assumed his post as platoon commander at the Northside
station's midnight shift July 14, takes the advancement in stride. Between
10 p.m. and 6 a.m., Jeanniton heads the station, known for its numerous
homicides, break-ins, aggravated assaults and batteries.

The career officer saw the promotion coming, he says, when he stood out in
an intensive exam required of all lieutenants, sergeants and captains
looking to climb the law enforcement ladder. His previous postings -- some
as a crime-scene investigator -- were in Cutler Ridge, Hammocks and Carol
City.

But even before he started his criminal justice career, Jeanniton's
bicultural upbringing may have planted the seed for what he says is a
calling.

Jeanniton was born June 9, 1963, in New York City and lived in a tiny
Haitian enclave whose size has dwindled further over the years. Almost two
years later, mother Veronique Thenor shipped him off to her native Haiti,
where he attended boarding school in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

''It was a good life,'' he said with a dimpled smile. At 17, he returned to
North America, living with family in Ontario and Queens and taking classes
at New York's John Jay College. He eventually earned a bachelor's degree in
criminal justice from Florida International University in 1998.

When it came time to pick a career, Jeanniton considered the military, but
the prospect of separating from his family and then-girlfriend was not
attractive. So he chose police work.

Jeanniton joined the force Feb. 21, 1990 -- the date immediately comes to
mind -- and was eventually promoted to sergeant in October 1999.

In January, Jeanniton took the lieutenant's exam that is part written, part
interactive and part role-playing. He placed ninth out of 43.

For South Florida Haitians, Jeanniton's rise reflects the police
department's move to have its force mirror the communities that it serves.

''It's about time, because we have a lot of Haitians in South Florida,''
said Yves Lafontant, president and founder of the Haitian-American Law
Enforcement Officers Association. ``It shows that Miami-Dade is doing a good
effort to diversify the force.''

Miami-Dade's police forces have made headway in recruiting Haitians over the
years, Lafontant said. Currently, one Haitian officer works in Bal Harbour,
three in Surfside, eight in North Miami, two in Biscayne Park, two in North
Miami Beach, one in Miami Beach and almost 40 in the Miami Police
Department.

Of the Miami-Dade Police Department's 3,087 officers, an estimated 25 to 30
are Haitian American.

''Garry is probably one of the most diverse lieutenants that we have,'' said
Leonard Burges, a Miami-Dade police chief. ``He blends in well with his new
assignment.''

CALLED ON TO HELP

In 1996, two years after a U.S.-led mission returned ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power, Haitian-American officers were called upon
to help a United Nations peacekeeping operation to professionalize Haiti's
first civilian police force -- which had replaced the then-disbanded
military notorious for its flagrant human rights abuses.

The idea, in part, was to remedy a legal system whose woes remain captured
in an especially dark Haitian proverb: ''Konstitisyon se papye, bayont se
f.'' Translation: The constitution is made of paper, bayonets are made of
steel.

So dozens of Creole-speaking officers stepped forward with the reward of
enforcing the law, lending a helping hand back home and getting a generous
paycheck -- more than $100,000 by some accounts. Jeanniton, however, was not
interested. He chose to stay in the United States and focus on his career.

HIS CHOSEN CAREER

''He's sold on law enforcement,'' said Robert Parker, Miami-Dade Police
Department's assistant director, who has known Jeanniton since he became
sergeant. ``He's satisfied with law enforcement as his chosen career.''

Today, Jeanniton is the father of a 10-year-old daughter, Tiffany. His first
wife, Barbara, died during childbirth. His father died in 1991, and his
mother remains in Haiti. In 1995, he married Mavis Basquiat, a high school
teacher, and the couple make their home in Kendall.

He spends his free time dabbling as an amateur photographer and admits to
having an expensive soft spot for Rolex watches and Montblanc fountain pens.
His background, he says, is an asset. It enables him to be an advocate,
after all.

''I think the Haitian community can have somebody to rely on,'' he said.
``There might be a delicate situation where they need somebody to represent
[them]. I can be that person.''

But even if Jeanniton may come across as ambitious, he maintains a calm
demeanor -- and modesty. He acknowledges the accomplishments of his law
predecessors -- ''the pioneers,'' as he calls them -- and says he, too,
wants to have his share of successors.

''I hope that I'm not the last one to get that rank,'' Jeanniton said. ``I
hope younger Haitians will be able to pass me up.''

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