Anita Van Buren

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Lt. Anita Van Buren
Law & Order character

Time on show	1993-
Preceded	Don Cragen
Succeeded	N/A
First appearance	Sweeps
Last appearance	N/A
Portrayed by	S. Epatha Merkerson

Lt. Anita Van Buren (played by S. Epatha Merkerson) is a fictional character on NBC's long running drama, Law & Order. She joined the cast in 1993 (Season 4 of the series), replacing Capt. Don Cragen (played by Dann Florek), and is the longest-running character on the show. Van Buren transferred the 27th Precinct of the New York City Police Department to work homicide cases after a previous stint in Narcotics. She has overseen the work of detectives such as Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Mike Logan (Chris Noth), Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt), Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin), Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina), Nick Falco (Michael Imperioli), and Nina Cassady (Milena Govich) since taking over at the 27th.

A graduate of John Jay College (as was Ron Carver from Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Van Buren is married to Donald, who owns a hardware store. They have two sons, Ric (who was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of six in 1995) and Stefan. Unlike Cragen, Van Buren focuses on salvaging investigations when her detectives make mistakes, rather than focusing on their failures.

Van Buren is known for her toughness, but she has often paid a price for it. She once shot and killed a would-be mugger who attacked her at an ATM, who turned out to be a mentally retarded teenager. She was investigated, and absolved, by the Bureau of Internal Affairs. Four years later, she was up for a promotion to Captain but nearly lost her job when she sued the NYPD for promoting a white woman with less seniority ahead of her. A judge eventually dismissed her discrimination suit.

Van Buren learned in Season 12 that the case that led her to being promoted to lieutenant was tainted by a dishonest fingerprint examiner's report. No action was taken against her, but it continues to haunt her.

Van Buren was angered in 2006 when she was forced to accept Nina Cassady as the replacement for Det. Joe Fontana upon his retirement. Van Buren felt that Cassady was too inexperienced to be a Homicide detective and that she was a risk to her partner. Van Buren stated she had a "hand-picked" replacement for Fontana who was older and much more experienced than Cassady.

Her favorite poet is Langston Hughes. She is left-handed.