It's Drugs vs. the Detective

Bennington - At more than six feet tall and 250 pounds, Bennington Police Detective Peter Urbanowicz has a powerful personality and a looming figure, and it helps as he tries to rid the area of illegal drugs. Intimidation factor "Sometimes I use it to my advantage. It's all part of the game," said Urbanowicz, explaining how his appearance helps when interrogating suspects during an interview inside the department's basement interrogation room. Urbanowicz has been a member of the department for 11 years, but joined the bureau of criminal investigations in August 2005. Since then, he has worked alongside his two fellow detectives, each focusing on a specific area. Detective Larry Cole focuses on crimes committed against children. Detective Sgt. David Rowland concentrates on financial crimes and fraud, and Urbanowicz has taken the lead on investigating drug crimes. Urbanowicz said he isn't sure it takes a certain type of personality to be a detective, but knows that all three detectives in the department have a strong interest in investigations. "I think each individual officer has their own keen interest. I've always found the investigative thing more of a mind challenge. I know some of the guys like to go out and do the traffic safety thing. Some of the guys do proactive patrol type of things, and some guys are just more hip to doing the investigative type thing," he said. Urbanowicz began his career as a police officer in 1985, before moving on to work for the Federal Protective Service in Albany, N.Y. Urbanowicz said he enjoyed the work, but decided to leave his federal job after the bombing in Oklahoma in 1995.
	Detective Urbanowicz, shown in the Bennington Police Department's interrogation room Wednesday, specializes in investigating drug crimes. Photo by Peter Crabtree
"During my tenure there we had the Oklahoma City bombing, which put a different emphasis on everything. I left shortly thereafter to come to here," he said. Urbanowicz said it is easy to stay motivated and focused because he knows that drugs are often the underlying cause of crimes committed in the area. "I think that the drug-crime thing is the root of a lot of problems in the community. We know that people addicted to drugs are prone to do desperate things to support their habit," he said. "A lot of the bad checks, the burglaries, the shoplifting ... they all tie in." Although Urbanowicz and his fellow detectives have specific specialties, they must cover for each other and investigate all types of crime committed in the area. In his experience, drug investigations differ from other types of crime because the success rate is lower, said Urbanowicz. Surveillance "There are a lot of my investigations that don't come to a successful outcome. We're getting information all the time. People see things that they think is suspicious and interpret as drug activity. Sometimes it may be. Sometimes we go there and do surveillance, and for one reason or another ... nothing's going on. It doesn't mean that it's not happening. It just means that there wasn't anything there. Maybe we were there at the wrong time," said Urbanowicz. Urbanowicz said it is often difficult to make the community understand that progress is being made when they call and alert the police. "The community as a whole gets frustrated sometimes because it takes a long time to do what we need to do. People sometimes interpret that as no action. They don't know that we're researching people going into these houses. There's a lot of work that goes into it," he said. A lot has changed in the community since Urbanowicz began working for the BPD, and not all of is has been positive, he said. Drugs not found here in the past have found their way into town. "When I first came to work here 11 years ago, (I) never saw crack cocaine. For the last few years, we've seen crack cocaine," he said. "Heroin was a big deal a few years ago. It kind of went underground for a little bit and it came back to light here in the last year and a half. Heroin is a problem." In addition to street drugs, the department has encountered more prescription drugs being abused. "One of the things that I see really coming to our attention is the abuse and the deceit and fraud involved with prescription drugs. It's becoming a real problem in this community." It is Urbanowicz's belief that the drugs entering the area have moved north from New York City. "New York City, with Rudy Giuliani, put on a big push. They pushed them out of New York City and that criminal element came up to the Albany, Troy, Schenectady area," he said. But Bennington is not facing problems that other similarly sized communities face. "I know that there are other cities that have more of a problem. I think that for a community our size, we're comparable to what goes on in other communities," said Urbanowicz. No meth labs, yet Meth labs have yet to be seen in the area, but Urbanowicz said that the prospect of them materializing is frightening. "I'm frightened to death about it. It's a bad thing. ... There have been rumors that that's happening around here; (nobody) has developed anything concrete. Myself and two other guys went to a clandestine lab school a couple years ago. The class was attended by a lot of guys from Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio. ... The thing that these guys kept telling us was that when meth came into their community, it devastates the whole thing. The police department has to devote all of its energy to it," he said. Urbanowicz is aware of the dangers he might encounter while following up and investigating tips, but he says he doesn't believe he is putting himself on the line any more than his fellow officers. "No matter what you do, whether you're a detective or you're a uniform guy, the level of danger is the same. You just never know," he said. The dangers of the job are something that officers can't allow themselves to dwell on, said Urbanowicz. "I think anybody that comes to work everyday should have it in the back of their mind that it could happen and should be aware of that. But, if you're coming to work everyday and worrying about that, maybe this isn't what you need to be doing," said Urbanowicz. Dwelling on things doesn't seem to be a part of Urbanowicz's nature, who says he tries — and is usually successful — at leaving his work behind at the end of the day. "When I leave here, I leave this place here. ... It took a long time. Don't get me wrong; There are days when I go home that things bother me. There are sleepless nights. All of us have sleepless nights over stuff that we work on, but I try to leave this place here when I leave," he said. But he says that he is always ready to come back the next day, because he knows the community is counting on him and his fellow officers. "The most rewarding thing is to let your community know that you're out there addressing a significant issue. ... For me, it's more about the community, letting them know that we're out there doing what they expect us to do," he said. "Can't do it without the community. We need the input from the community. We need people to call us and tell us their suspicions or observations."