The distance from Connecticut to Mississippi is 1,102 miles.

That’s a long way to go for a career in law enforcement, but for brothers Judson, Wilner and Junior Magloire, it has been worth the trip.

The brothers grew up in Connecticut and share two cultures — one from the life they led on the East Coast of the U.S. and the Haitian culture of their parents who migrated to the U.S. year ago. Judson was born in Haiti and moved to the U.S. shortly after his birth when his mother left the island country to join his father who had been working in the U.S.

Judson, the oldest, works in the department’s traffic division. His brothers are on different patrol shifts in the department. Junior, a rookie, is presently working with a field training officer as part of his post-academy training before he will be allowed to work on his shift alone.

“I always wanted to be a police officer,” Judson said. “But for some reason, it takes longer to be one in Connecticut. My wife, who is from Mississippi, told me to apply in Jackson, where she’s from. I just applied to Jackson. I didn’t believe I would make it, and nine months later, I was accepted to the police academy. I hired with Jackson, October 2011, and was there until July of 2012, when I started here, and I’ve been here ever since.”

He said he came to Vicksburg after talking with two former academy classmates who worked at the Vicksburg Police Department and told him about the department. “It was more organized, and in Jackson we were working more hours and getting paid less,” he said.

Being in Vicksburg had an impact on Judson, and he called Wilner, who at the time was studying criminal justice in college in Connecticut, and had a daughter born his freshman year.

“My brother knew I always wanted to be a police officer. He said he would help me to the best of his ability if I passed my tests,” Wilner said. “That’s what I did. The chief sort of liked me, and I’ve been here since January of 2014.”

His brothers’ successes influenced Junior, who joined them and the department, but when he arrived in 2015, “I began to have second thoughts. So I tried (being a) booking (officer) before I became a police officer.

“It kind of made me understand how to be a better police officer, and from that opportunity, I thought I’d try policing. Since I put in my application, I felt this is the career path I want.” Junior graduated earlier this month from the Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy.

“I’m just proud of all of them,” Judson said. “If our parents who migrated here from Haiti would have told us their kids were going to be police officers, … that’s unheard of, especially in the Haitian culture.

“It’s actually rewarding, having your brothers in the same police department,” Junior said. “We just get the job done.”

It does, however, create some problems for dispatchers, Judson said.

“Everyone says we sound alike; our accents are alike, and then dispatchers are always calling, asking, ‘Which one are you,’ because our Adam (call) numbers are close together: I’m 38, he’s (Wilner) 28 and he’s (Junior) 58.”

“We try to keep a low profile,” Junior said. “It was problem when I got out on one call and a woman said, ‘I heard there three of you, but I thought it was a lie,’ and I said, ‘This is the third.”

“I’ll go on a call and someone will say, ‘Didn’t I just see you yesterday?’ And it one of my brothers,” Wilner said. “The chief asked if he needed to get ready for any more Magloire brothers, and we said there was one more brother, but he’s a chemist for a company in Connecticut.”

And having a brother in the department can be a mixed bag. Judson said sometimes it can be very tempting to drop what he’s doing to back his brother up.

“When you hear they’re out on something, you immediately want to go back them up,” Wilner said.

Presently, Judson said, because Junior is riding with another officer, “His backup’s with him.”

“If I hear his (Wilner’s) number and I’m close to him, I’ll go back him up,” he said. “The first time I saw him, and I actually backed him up; I’ll never forget. The lady looked at us and said, ‘You guys must be brothers.’ I said, ‘Yes, and there’s three of us.’

“The first six months, every time I heard his number called, after he was cut loose, I tried to be close by. The first time he was on nights by himself, I got nervous. I kept my phone nearby. I always told him if he had any questions to call me. The first time he (Junior) gets cut loose, he’ll (Wilner) will feel the same way I felt with him.”

“I know he’s been doing this a couple of years more than I have, so I know he can hold his own,” Wilner said. “But it’s you just go back your fellow officers, and it just happens my fellow officer is my brother.”

Because of the department schedules, he said, the brothers don’t work the same shifts, but sometimes get to work details together.

“That’s probably the best, where we work details together,” Judson said.

“We’re a close family,” he added. “We all live together, go to the gym together, we shop together.”

One thing that has helped them make the adjustments to being in the south, Judson said, is the way the brothers have been treated by their fellow officers and the community.

“This department is probably the best in the state, the way we work,” he said. “We are a family. They embraced us knowing we’re not from the state, we have no one here; our culture is different.”

“They try to give us the same off days,” Wilner said.

“Other officers always help us out, they invite us to family functions, and the state and city welcomed us. They showed us the hospitality of the state,” Judson said.

One thing the brothers have done is convert to the Baptist faith, he said, adding their mother is Roman Catholic.

And there are other culture changes they are exposed to.

“Down here, people cookout every Sunday during the summer,” he said. “And in Connecticut, if you see someone and they don’t know you, they won’t say, ‘Hi.’ Here, they speak to you, even if they don’t know you.”

“The hospitality here is wonderful,” Wilner said. “It’s like you’re family.”

“And I don’t miss the snow,” Judson said.

“The last time it snowed before I came here, I was stuck in my home for two weeks,” Wilner said. “The city was shut down.”

The brothers said their parents are proud of their accomplishments but have their concerns about their occupations.

“Our dad is worried because of laws in-state and dangerous job we do,” Judson said. “And because of the shootings of police. He’s nervous and I know he would like for us to move back to Connecticut, but he kind of knows we’re going to stay here.”

And where do they see themselves going?

Judson and Wilner want to eventually return to school complete their degrees. All three want to retire from the department.

“ I want to concentrate on being a better officer and probably becoming an investigator or lieutenant,” Junior said.

Wilner would like to become a lieutenant and shift commander, “But I would like to go into a specialized division like investigations or juvenile or narcotics.”

“I would like to retire as a deputy chief or chief,” Judson said, “and then go into politics.”