Anita Van Buren

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Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
Law & Order character

Time on show	1993-
Preceded by	Donald Cragen
First appearance	Sweeps
Portrayed by	S. Epatha Merkerson

Lieutenant 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 Captain Donald 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 wounded a would-be mugger who attacked her at an ATM, and fatally injuring the muggers partner 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 Detective 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 experience than Cassady.

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