The Observer Newspapers | 'Officer G' Helps the Town's Youth

July 11, 2008

'Officer G' Helps the Town's Youth

The Town of Herndon police place a strong emphasis on community policing and their partnership with the community. In this series, The Observer will profile officers who both live and work in the Herndon community.

By Rebecca Plevin
Observer Staff Writer

Herndon police officer G. Warren Brathwaite never dreamed of being a police officer. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., studied civil engineering at Brooklyn Technical High School, and continued to study civil engineering at Northeastern University in Boston. It was after working as an engineer in Boston for eight years that a friend signed Braithwaite up to take the Herndon police test.

He was offered a job with the Herndon police and moved to the area in 1994, even though he said he had "never heard of Herndon at all." The decision to become a police officer "surprised my mother a lot," he said, but he believes he was always cut out for the role. He said he was a bouncer in college and always checked on people at parties and maybe, "deep down it was always in me to watch out for people."

Brathwaite has served on the police force for about 14 years and has been the youth services officer in the Neighborhood Resource Center since late 2004. As the youth services officer, Brathwaite said he helps establish communication between parents and children and encourages kids to get involved in various local programs. He is responsible for looking for runaway children, and he said he to tries to locate missing kids by speaking to their friends and using Web sites like MySpace and Facebook. He said he also is involved with Kids at Hope and serves on the board of Vecinos Unidos.

He said he loves helping kids because "they got a shot at changing the future."

Brathwaite is just as committed to Herndon's youth when he is off duty. "Officer G," as he is known in the community, becomes "Coach G" when he hits the football field and basketball court. He started as an assistant coach in the Herndon Optimist Club football league in 1996 and has been the head coach of his own team for the past two seasons. He has also been the head coach of a Herndon Optimist basketball team for the past two years.

Coaching "gets us to know these kids," Brathwaite said. "If they respect you as a coach, they'll assist you on the street." Football and basketball games are fun, he said, but the sports also allow him the opportunity to teach kids a valuable lesson: kids "can accomplish almost anything" if they give it their best.

In his free time, Brathwaite pursues a less kid-friendly passion: motorcycle riding. He said he loves to get together with a group of friends on Sunday mornings for long rides and breakfast. During those long rides, he said, he sees the sunrise and the helmet blocks out other thoughts so he can relax and "just think about riding."

Though Brathwaite was raised a city boy, he said he likes Herndon's small-town feel. "Everyone knows everyone," he said. "It's like 'Cheers.' Everyone knows your name." And though he has not worked in engineering for many years, he said he still keeps up on his calculus, physics and trigonometry. "It keeps my brain working," he said.