For Bennington Detective, the Case is in the Numbers

BENNINGTON — The word "detective" typically conjures images of gumshoes cracking suspenseful crimes like murder. One local detective works his fair share of physical crime, but he spends the majority of his time digging into "white collar" crime. Detective Sgt. David S. Rowland of the Bennington Police Department, a soft-spoken, laid-back man who says he always wears a bulletproof vest under his shirt, oversees the bureau of criminal investigation for the department. He is responsible for two other officers, Detective Larry Cole, who specializes in investigation of sex crimes and crimes against children, and Detective Peter Urbanowicz, who handles the majority of the drug investigations. Financial crimes are Rowland's forte. Despite the detectives' unique interests, Rowland says all three share some similar traits. "I think with any one of us down here, it's the kind of personality that has attention to detail. It's looking for the details, looking for the small things. My wife would say I don't have patience, but with some of these (cases) — maybe it's job related — you've got to have patience," he said.

Each of the three are trained to investigate all types of crime, but they developed their specific areas of expertise based on their own personal interests. Rowland seems to have stumbled into his role as the financial investigator. "It kind of fell into my lap. Some of the guys don't like doing them. (Detective Cole) really likes doing the sex stuff. I've done sex cases. I've got three or four open (sex cases) myself. I'm not really sure how, but it just kind of ended up that way," he said Wednesday in an interview at the police station. Financial crimes can vary greatly in complexity, said Rowland. Some cases are as simple as not having enough money in a account, but others, like an embezzlement case currently being investigated by Rowland, can produce mountains of paperwork and involve hundreds of thousands of dollars. "As far as financial crimes, it could be anything from bad checks, insufficient funds to embezzlement. There's false pretense crimes, forgeries," said Rowland. "Lots of times, all it is follow the record and all I am is a custodian of the records." Like the detectives who work with him, Rowland receives some specialized training in his area. But unlike his colleagues, most of the know-how in solving financial crimes comes from experience. "Most of it, believe it or not, is through on-the-job training. I did recently go to Boston ... for a short one-day thing on fraud and schemes. I've learned from Secret Service agents about counterfeiting," he said. "Really, it's developing relationships. It's relationships with people that do that thing all the time." As the Internet continues to grow and businesses turn more to online sales, Internet scams have also risen proportionally, said Rowland. He looks into as many Internet crimes as possible, but his latitude is somewhat limited. "We try to do as much as we can with them. Somebody coined a phrase, and I like it: 'Those type of things usually are a big, black hole.' And they are. You start following where things go and it just bounces around an IP address. To be quite honest, the chief is not going to be happy about me flying off to Istanbul, Turkey, to talk to someone about a $2,000 e-bay scam," he said. Rowland knows that most people find the crimes he investigates to be mundane, but it doesn't let it bother him, saying, "those things don't get the glamour, and I don't care." He says it's different than working a physical crime, but still interesting and important. "It's a lot of time sitting here reading numbers. Sometimes, I would say it's figuring out the little puzzle or the scam, but once you can figure that out, or it's been brought to light, it's very obvious. Usually, it's just more of a tedious thing. You're still talking to people, but you're not talking to people that have been physically hurt or assaulted," said Rowland. According to Rowland, some of the cases worked by Rowland have become part of larger cases taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation because they involve several states or a bank heist. Despite doing the early leg work on those cases, Rowland said he is happy to see cases solved because of the FBI's resources. "Most times I've put together the beginning pieces and you can start to see pretty quickly where it might be going. They have the ability with subpoenas to get more information," said Rowland. "Generally, I wouldn't say it's a case of us and them; it's a case of bringing them up to speed. ... It's really a joint investigation." Help from the FBI The FBI's power is helpful when financial records from out-of-state companies are necessary in an investigation, said Rowland. "I call them up and they're like, 'yeah, take a hike.' If the FBI calls them up and says, 'we want this and here's the court order that says this,' they might be a little more inclined to listen," he said. Solving a case of someone writing bad checks can sometimes shine a spotlight on other problems the suspect is having, said Rowland. "There's usually some underlying reason for (the crime). I can generally pick out within a period of time — if I start seeing a lot of checks with the same name on them — that there is a problem. Sometimes it's drugs. I've had some with gambling issues. So, it's not just a money crime, per se, there are some underlying things," he said. Helping people get through those problems and get help for their problems is what makes the sometimes tedious work worthwhile. Rowland said one case he remembers involved a woman with a drug problem. Solving the case led to her sobriety, he said. "That was the intervention for her and got her squared away and she's doing very well right now," said Rowland. Not all of Rowland's cases have been rewarding or exciting, however. "It's not all of them. Some of them, it's just poor accounting. Some of them are trying to play the 'float game' and slide through another week. Sometimes it's just mistakes, and those people, when you go and knock on the door ... they offer to take care of it," he said. No matter how simple or complex a case may be, Rowland says he approaches them all the same way. How he approaches suspects, and how he makes them talk is always changing however, and that is what keeps his job fresh. "It's breaking them down and getting them to talk to you. ... When you go into talk to somebody you can kind of get a gauge on what they're going to be like. To me, it's a challenge. I like that sort of thing. ... A lot of the (officers) ... can get the statements, but when it really comes down to talking to people, a lot of them don't like to," he said.