Desmond Rowland

Desmond Rowland

The Law Enforcement Handbook was first published in 1983. Twenty-five years later, the book, now in its fourth edition, remains a bestseller, used by police services, commercial security companies, and law enforcement studies programs across North America.

This latest edition is a tribute to the memory of Superintendent Desmond Rowland and a testament to his remarkable career as a police officer. It has been updated by Des’s original co-author, James Bailey, and his son, Detective Stephen Rowland.

Born to a family of ten kids in the small town of Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1936, Des Rowland joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary (now the Police Service of Northern Ireland) at the age of 18. In addition to normal patrol duties, he served with a police paracommando unit on the border with the Republic of Ireland, which came under frequent attack by terrorists. This experience was in sharp contrast to his subsequent police service in Bermuda, where he joined the colonial police force in 1959. “There was sunshine, very little crime, and we didn’t even carry weapons,” he once said in a newspaper interview. “It was like a vacation” in comparison with his experience in Northern Ireland, he added. During that period, he met Stephanie, a young Canadian woman working as a hairdresser at the Elbow Beach Hotel. They married in Bermuda, and in 1961 moved to Stephanie’s former hometown of Cooksville, Ontario. Des joined the Toronto Township Police Force, and made the transition from colonial to rural policing.

“From a job standpoint, in those days, police work was pretty humdrum,” he said. “Farmers and local people would call us to chase a skunk or other animals from their properties. A robbery was almost unheard of. “ As the area became increasingly urbanized with the growth of Mississauga and its amalgamation into the Region of Peel, Des rose through the ranks. When Peel Regional Police was formed in 1974 he had already demonstrated his policing skills as a patrol officer, detective and leader, and was assigned to one of the toughest jobs: commander of Regional Special Services, the investigative division that included the homicide, morality, fraud, intelligence and auto theft squads.

In 1974, Des was the first Peel Regional Police officer to attend the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where he studied with top law enforcement officers from around the world and graduated from the program with honors. During his stay at the Academy, he roomed with a polygraph operator, an experience which eventually resulted in Peel becoming the first municipal police service in Ontario to use this vital tool in criminal investigations.

This initiative led to the clearance of many serious crimes, including several homicides that might have otherwise gone unsolved.
In 1980, he was appointed Chief Investigator of the Mississauga Railway Accident Inquiry, which was created in the wake of the largest peacetime evacuation of a civilian population ever undertaken. In later years, he also served as commander of the division covering the Toronto International Airport, Canada’s busiest, prior to his appointment as commander of the Peel Regional Police division for the city of Brampton.

One of his proudest achievements in that post was the 100% arrest rate that was achieved in the 55 homicide cases he directed or personally investigated.
“It was an amazing record,” he said, “but during that era we could concentrate on each case and spend a lot of time chasing leads. In addition, our detectives were extremely persistent and topnotch investigators”.

During his police service, Des earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilfred Laurier University through part-time studies. After his retirement became a popular and highly respected professor of law enforcement studies at Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Ontario. Des died suddenly in 1998 from pancreatic cancer. Des is survived by his wife Stephanie, son Stephen, daughter Catherine, and five grandchildren.