Detective Division

Captain Michael Babula

The Detective Division of the Warwick Police Department is staffed by 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 5 Sergeants, 26 Detectives, 1 Civilian Criminalist, and 1 Civilian Clerk

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 5 Detectives, as follows: Sgt. Robert Bentsen, Det. Roger Courtemanche, Det Eric Johnson, Det Thomas DiGregorio, Det Kyle Kettelle, and Detective Janice Sassi. Detective Kettelle also serves as a member of the Departments Computer Forensics Unit.

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 4 Detectives, as follows: Sgt,Raymond LeBlanc, Det. Michael Martin, Det. Kevin Petit, Det. David Hutchings and Det. JP Toussaint, who also serves as our primary Arson Investigator, as well as Technician/Investigator in the use of our advanced AVID photo enhancement system.

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, as follows: Sgt. Robert Avizinis, Det. Mark Lesser, Det Timothy Grant, Det. Michael Turner, and Det. Scott McKnight. All of the Detectives in this District have second specialties. Det’s Lesser and Grant are financial crime specialists, Det McKnight is our Auto-Theft investigator, and Det Turner is a backup BCI Technician.

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 4 Detectives as follows: Sgt. Fred Pierce, Det. Robert Page, Det. Mark Blair, and and Det. James Medeiras. Working with Sgt. Leblanc of the District Two Unit, Sgt. Pierce and his Night Detectives are also our Cold Case Unit. In addition, Det. James Medeiras is being trained as our new Gang Intelligence Officer.

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 as follows: Det. Daniel Gillis, Det. Barbara Frazier, Det. Edmund Pierce, and Civilian Criminalist Walter Williams. The unit is supervised on a day to day basis by Sgt. Raymond LeBlanc Sgt Leblanc is himself a former BCI Detective. Walter Williams is a retired Providence Police BCI Detective who has great expertise, and also teaches at the state BCI School at the University of Rhode Island

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

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.

The Computer Forensics Investigation Unit is commanded by Sergeant Scott Mancini, who also serves in the Office of Technology & Planning. Two Detectives are assigned to Sergeant Mancini in the unit. Detective Edmund Pierce and Detective Kyle Kettelle.  We continue to develop all three investigators with extensive education and training in the area of computer forensics, incident response and network forensic examinations . Click here to be taken to our computer crimes web page: http://www.warwickpd.org/CFU.htm

AUTO THEFT UNIT

The Auto Theft Unit consists of Detective Scott Mcknight, with the backup and assistance of Sgt. Robert Avizinis. 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 Officer 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 Lieutenant Raymond Gallucci. 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.