HE GETS THE
Badge for Charm Dwayne Williams and Yanitza Acevedo find that openness and communication are key in their relationship. In fact, it’s one of the first things that attracted them to each other when they were simply friends who spoke regularly on the phone. But before that, it started with a different type of phone call. It was Nov. 22, 2015. Dwayne was assigned a case following an incident that Yanitza called in to the Union City Police. The call was regarding a car break-in that Yanitza waited a couple of weeks before reporting and Dwayne was the detective assigned to follow-up on any leads. When he went to speak with her, the first thing he saw was her unpacking her car and rushing to get into the house. “I just purchased a flat screen TV and didn’t want him to see it, so I was rushing,” said Yanitza, 40, with a laugh. The conversation that followed on the porch lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes. Although it was simply about the case, Dwayne said that there was definitely an early interest that led to them staying in contact. “In the back of my mind, I knew there was nothing I could do about [the break-in] because it was [reported weeks later],” said Dwayne, 44. “But we kept in touch after. We became friends and spoke via text messages and the phone for a while.”
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February 2021 • Cliftonmagazine.com
Facing page, Ixiana, who attends CCMS, and Marley with Dwayne and Yanitza.
Then, about a year later, the two of them went out on a date to Blackjack Mulligan’s Bar & Restaurant in Secaucus. What got them to that point was talking daily on the phone while driving to work in the morning. From there, they got closer and Yanitza said that it was so natural that she didn’t even realize at first that she was falling for Dwayne. “We had good conversations about topics that were interesting,” said Yanitza. “It felt like we really got to know each other before things pursued into something more.” Dwayne, who has served as a detective with the Union City Police since 2011, was born in Jamaica. He