Detective Division
Captain Sean Collins
The Detective Division of the Warwick Police
Department is staffed by 1 Captain, 5 Sergeants,
24 Detectives, and 1 Civilian Criminalist
The City is divided into three geographical Districts
DISTRICT ONE
District One is the northern area of the
City. Crimes in this area have been heavily property related,
such as burglaries, larcenies, and malicious damage. Many of the
perpetrators arrested in the past have been from outside the
City. This is probably due to the close proximity of the cities
of Cranston and Providence. This has often made investigation of
these crimes more difficult. The excellent relations that exist
with our neighboring cities PD’s have assisted us greatly.
Recently this District has become slower as we have continued to
make arrests that resulted in a large number of crime clearances
and arrest of a number of individuals that were engaged in a
large volume of activity. This District is staffed by 1 Sergeant
and 3 Detectives.
DISTRICT TWO
District Two is the central and eastern parts
of the city. Property crimes also predominate in this area of
the city, although we have also noted a somewhat higher level of
assaults and family related crime in this area. It is the
slowest of the three Detective Districts in terms of total
complaints handled. This District is staffed by 1 Sergeant and 3
Detectives.
DISTRICT THREE
District Three is the western and southern
areas of the City. This area has a high proportion of business,
and receives a disproportionate amount of white collar crime,
fraud, theft, and auto theft. Many of the crimes investigated in
this area require a great deal of time-consuming paper-chasing.
Retail fraud, identity theft, and all internet related crime are
all heavily on the rise. This has now become the busiest
District in the City. This District is staffed by 1 Sergeant,
and 4 Detectives.
NIGHT DETECTIVES
The Night Detective Unit allow us to staff
Detectives for immediate follow-up investigations during the
peak evening hours. They respond to break-ins, robberies,
serious assaults and major white collar crime throughout the
city during the evening. In addition they allow us flexibility
in other follow up investigations as they are able to contact
and interview people who may not be available during the day.
This unit is currently staffed by 1 Sergeant and 2 Detectives.
BUREAU OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
The BCI unit is responsible for evidence
collection, processing, and storage, as well as forwarding
evidence to other agencies for further testing, and preparing
evidence for court. In addition they carry out mandatory
fingerprint checks for many professions as required by the
state, and the criminal records checks and maintenance
associated with these tasks. This unit is currently staffed by 3
Detectives and 1 Civilian Criminalist.
SPECIAL OPERATIONS GROUP
The SOG investigates narcotics, vice, and
organized crime activities. The bulk of their time is normally
spent on narcotics related matters. A great deal of intelligence
is received by this unit from officers within the department,
the civilian community, and other law-enforcement agencies. This
unit is currently staffed by 1 Sergeant and 4 Detectives.
TASK FORCES
Through our cooperative relationship with
federal agencies we currently assign a Detective to two Federal
Task Forces, the DEA HIDTA and FBI HIDTA. These High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Task Forces provide a great deal of experience
to the detectives assigned, as well as the opportunity for the
WPD to call on their expertise and resources in some areas.
SPECIALTY FUNCTIONS
As I have mentioned several times, we also
staff a number of specialty functions with detectives who
continue to carry normal case loads. These specialty functions
are Arson, Auto-Theft, Financial Crime, Gang Intelligence, and
Computer Forensics Investigation.
COMPUTER FORENSICS INVESTIGATION
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The Warwick Police Department has a fully
capable Computer Forensics Initial equipment purchases were made
with Federal Grant Funds. The Investigators involved in the unit
have received extensive technical training over the last several
years. A further Federal Grant recently allowed us to further
expand our equipment and training.
Click here to be taken to our computer crimes web
page:
http://www.warwickpd.org/CFU.htm
AUTO THEFT UNIT
The volume of unrecovered stolen vehicles continues to
decline. This is due to a number of factors, such as better
security systems, LOJACK, and the elimination of many organized
“chop shops” by the State Police.
There remains a lesser problem with vehicle
taken for “joy rides”, and the stripping of stereos and tires,
and other accessories. We continue to work closely with the
Providence Police in particular on these issues.
ARSON UNIT
The Arson unit consists of Detective
J.P.Toussaint, with the assistance and backup of Sgt. Thomas
Hannon. both officers are fully nationally certified Arson
Investigators.
GANG INTELLIGENCE
Detective James Medeiras and Community Police
Sgt. Bradford Connor are currently being trained as Gang
Officers. They will conduct liaison with surrounding Departments
regarding issues of mutual concern in this area, as well
maintaining awareness of any issues that might develop in
Warwick in the future.
FINANCIAL CRIME INVESTIGATIONS
We continue to receive increasing number of
complaints of financial type crimes, as well as white collar
crimes in general. This is part of national growth in crimes in
these areas. These types of crime often also require Computer
Forensic Investigation as well. I continue to work to develop
two investigators for work in this area. Detectives Mark Lesser
and Timothy Grant have attended training, and will continue with
further specialized training in the future.
SUPERVISORY STAFF
The Division is administered by me and
Captain Collins. We also have 5 Sergeants, one to
each District, Night Detectives, and SOG. Each has separate
areas of responsibility, as well as additional supervisory tasks
outside their main unit.
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