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This is a ficlet/roleplay journal for the Law & Order character Lieutenant Anita Van Buren. The character, and all L&O characters mentioned in this journal are the property of Dick Wolf & NBC Universal Television. This journal is for roleplay and fic writing only, and I make no profit, nor intend any infringement of copyright.

Anita Van Buren (nee Devereaux) was born November 28, 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother was a homemaker and her father was a career military man. She has an older brother, Tremaine, who is a doctor, and a younger sister, Rachel, who is a high school history teacher.

In the summer of 1965, right before she would have entered high school, her family moved to Queens, New York. After graduating from Grover Cleveland High school in 1970, Anita spent two years working as a secretary before enrolling at Queensborough Community College in 1972. She received her Associate in Business Administration in the spring of 1974. It was that summer that she met Donald Van Buren, the man she would eventually marry. He was the one who convinced her to follow her dreams of becoming a police officer, and in 1975 she started at John Jay College. She and Don were married a month after the end of her second year. Anita graduated in 1979 with a BA in Criminal Justice.

In 1980, Anita began working at a beat cop in Queens. After a little over five years, she was transferred to Bronx Narcotics, where she spent seven years. During her time in Narcotics, she gave birth to her two children--Stefan in 1987, and Ric in 1989. She took only the allotted six weeks of maternity leave each time, returning to work immediately. Don (who owns a hardware store) and Anita’s mother, as well as the occasional babysitter, took care of the boys while Anita worked. In 1993, when her boys were five and three, Anita was made Lieutenant and put in command of the 27th precinct in New York City.

Anita had been up for a promotion in 1997, but was passed over for a white woman with less seniority. She, in turn, sued the NYPD for discrimination and almost lost her job. The suit was eventually dismissed, and she remained at the 2-7.

Though she’s known for being tough, Anita prides herself on being fair. She was reluctant to accept both Joe Fontana and Nina Cassady when they started, but eventually accepted each of them, Fontana more easily than Cassady. Her acceptance of Cassady didn’t last long, as Anita soon berated Cassady for her inability to keep her temper in check and suggested that she had no future at the 2-7.

Her detectives are like family to her; she maintains close relationships with them even after they transfer or retire. Lennie’s sudden death and Joe’s unexpected retirement hit her especially hard. Though she has great respect for her detectives, she will not hesitate to call them on their mistakes.

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