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Among many friends, family members and colleagues expected at the City Hall ceremony is her father, Larry Franklin, who made history himself when he became the Paterson Fire Department’s first black captain in 1995.
Also there will be Franklin's husband, Englewood native Daniel Marks, who’s a youth minister at Canaan Baptist Church in the city’s notorious 4th Ward.
City Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale has seen a lot in his nearly 40 years in law enforcement, including 15 years with the NYPD, and nearly as many combined years with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, Port Authority police and as Passaic County sheriff.
However, Speziale has “never heard of anything like” Bavennia’s decision to follow in her brother’s footsteps, which he said shows “what a special family” the Franklins of Westwood are.
Bavennia was a high school freshman when her brother, Tyron D. Franklin -- only 23 and the father of a 16-month-old son -- stopped for a late-night cheeseburger at Broadway Fried Chicken on Broadway.
The unarmed young officer – who’d joined the Silk City police department just eight months earlier -- was ordering food that Jan. 7, 2007 night when a robber armed with a handgun walked in and demanded money.
Franklin tried to subdue the robber, who shot him four times inside the restaurant and then once again outside before fleeing in a minivan.
Paterson police issued a sketch that generated more than 150 tips – including one that led directly to the capture of ex-con Teddy Charlemagne of Irvington 10 days after he gunned down Franklin in cold blood.
Like the slain officer, Charlemagne was also 23. He’d been on parole for drug and weapons convictions at the time.
He's been serving a 40-year sentence without parole for the murder of a law enforcement officer.
Bavennia Franklin, the granddaughter of a South Carolina tobacco farmer who became successful in real estate, is writing her own special story after being graduated with a major in criminal justice from FDU and joining the city department as a civilian records clerk four years ago.
Friday morning’s event will be Paterson first-ever badge reassignment ceremony, Mayor Andre Sayegh said.
Calling Franklin a “source of inspiration,” the mayor said he’ll be proud to present her with Badge #4637.
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