15888: (Hermantin) Sun Sentinel-Delray officer honored for work with at-risk youth (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Delray officer honored for work with at-risk youth

By Lisa Bolivar
Special Correspondent
Posted June 13 2003

Delray Beach · When Maxu Daceus was 12, he spent almost two years planning
the demise of Delray Beach Police Officer Jean Albert "Johnny" Pun.

Now, seven years later, he embraces Pun as a father figure.

"I had a plot to kill him; I had it all planned out," said Daceus. His rage
at Pun stemmed from Pun catching him enjoying a cigarette after Pun lectured
students about the evils of smoking.

Daceus works at Borton Volvo-Volkswagen, home to the Delray Beach Youth
Vocational Charter School, a program Pun co-founded that offers at-risk
youth an education and a hand up.

Daceus, who is one of Pun's success stories, is working toward his high
school equivalency diploma and learning a trade.

The City Commission recognized Pun, an 11-year veteran with the police
department, as a community hero on May 6.

A proclamation issued in his name outlined Pun's accomplishments, including
the school and the cultural diversity classes he teaches to his fellow
officers to prepare them to deal with the town's ever-growing Haitian
population.

Pun, 35, who is of Haitian descent and fluent in French, Creole and English,
was instrumental in organizing a Haitian Citizen's Police Academy and a
Community Emergency Response Team program in Creole through the city's fire
department.

He is a field training officer and an instructor of school anti-drug and
gang programs.

But his influence doesn't stop at the city limits.

Pun also served in the U.S. Army Reserves and spent six months in Haiti in
1997 as part of United States and United Nations efforts to establish a
police force there.

The Community Oriented Policing Association and CrimeStoppers named him 2000
Palm Beach County Officer of the Year, and the Palm Beach Post this year
named him Distinguished Law Officer of the Year for Crime Prevention.

He has won the Jefferson Award from the American Institute of Public
Service. Pun joins a distinguished list of past recipients, including
Barbara Bush, Roslyn Carter, Walter Cronkite and Colin Powell.

All this attention causes the soft-spoken Pun to retreat, hands up as if to
push it away. When confronted with the praise, he hides his face in his
hands and says wearily, "No, I'm no hero. I am just doing my job."

He attributes his altruism to his mentor, his late father.

"He enjoyed helping people," Pun said. "My dad didn't need to know you. He'd
pull up and hear a funny noise coming from your engine and he'd say `Pop
your hood, lady,' and he'd fix it and you'd be on your way."

Pun also credits Haitian culture for his value system. He was born in New
York City but spent his formative years in Port au Prince.

"In my culture, you have to be very humble. You don't boast. You don't
expect a pat on the back for doing something right," he said. "How you
measure success is by taking on a responsibility that has greater chance of
failure."

He applies that ethic to his job.

Pun is the epitome of community policing, a direction many law enforcement
agencies are taking today, said Major William McCollom of the Delray Police
Department, one of Pun's supervisors.

"It's his individual passion that makes him different from others. I have
several police officers who have the same level of passion for the
community, but Johnny has the opportunity to express it in his current
position," McCollom said.

"You'd find Johnny as the standout observer. He's not a guy who is
overbearing. He's not a guy who is jumping in there saying `You do this and
you do that,' but the minute you see someone who needs help, he is there to
move in and help him," McCollom said.

Pun has taken some heat for his school, which takes the concept of community
policing to the next level by teaching children a vocation so they won't
commit crimes.

"It makes so much sense to him ... you're helping people who are down and
out and you are going the extra mile," McCollum said. "But we have people
who are steeped in the traditional side of law enforcement. They couldn't
see the benefit; he couldn't see why they didn't see the benefit."

Ask almost anyone who Pun has met and you will get a smile and an
enthusiastic endorsement. His personnel file has a commendation section that
approaches an inch thick with departmental, division and district
recognition.

And although it also shows he's been reprimanded for taking risks, such as
performing CPR on a blood-soaked shooting victim without personal protection
and extinguishing a church fire before the firefighters arrived, most of the
file is more of a testimonial to Pun's dedication.

"Johnny is someone who sees a need and tries to address a need," said Perry
Donfrancisco, 40, owner-operator of Boston's Restaurant on South Ocean
Boulevard and president of Delray Citizens for Delray Police.

"He's the real deal. Johnny Pun is quick to give a compliment and quick to
acknowledge others -- and reluctant to accept the same ... I think Johnny
Pun will be one of those people in these children's lives who they'll never
forget," Donfrancisco said.

Just ask Max Daceus.

"I always wanted a brother. I wish he was related ...," Daceus said.

Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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