 S. Epatha Merkerson (qv) wears her hair in dreadlocks. Although  she has played police officers in other shows with her own  hairstyle, notably Captain Margaret Claghorn in the futuristic crime  series _"Mann & Machine" (1992)_ (qv), she felt it would be  unrealistic for an ambitious New York Police Lieutenant to adopt  such a hairstyle so she wears a wig as Lt. Van Buren.