Robert Cowan

Bob Cowan, the owner of Cowan Investigations, is the former Jersey City Police Chief with close to thirty-five years of experience in New Jersey’s second-largest municipality. 

Bob moved up through the supervisory ranks of the department through a competitive process prior to having been appointed Chief of Police. During his career Bob was never interested in getting the standard 9:00 to 5:00 Monday thru Friday administrative desk job; he worked in the streets during nights, weekends, and holidays. More often than not, if Bob was not the first officer at the scene of crimes or major incidents he was called to the scene in order to make clear and informed decisions in all kinds of incidents while gathering all available information. Bob was the primary and final decision maker in a myriad of incidents such as: domestic violence, child abuse, child endangerment, child custody in addition to overseeing investigations of shootings, aggravated assaults, robberies, and narcotics complaints as well as putting in place surveillance to combat and prevent these crimes. 

During Bob’s tenure as Chief, crime rates were reduced by double-digit percentages in six of the seven major categories of the Uniform Crime Reporting system, including a 25% reduction in non-fatal shootings. He decentralized four of the seven Street Crime Units into the four patrol districts, which elevated the production and accountability of supervisors and the officers assigned to those units. Bob also implemented a new sick policy which consisted of aggressive employee monitoring including the use of the Internal Affairs Unit to conduct surveillance of employees suspected of abuse; employee sick time was drastically reduced.

As Chief of Police, Bob was responsible for eight hundred plus sworn personnel while he also assisted in the management of over one hundred civilian employees. The department’s Internal Affairs Unit worked directly under former Chief Cowan and reported directly to his office; the Internal Affairs Unit processed and investigated all major disciplinary and administrative complaints lodged against personnel and was responsible for the forwarding of complaints that were of a criminal nature to the County Prosecutor’s Office. In addition, the Special Investigations Unit worked directly out of the Chief’s Office, this unit being responsible for the most sensitive of investigations as well as the providing of executive protection for the Jersey City Mayor. Several members of this Special Investigations Unit were assigned to outside agencies, such as; The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, The Drug Enforcement Agency, United States Marshal Service, and the Hudson County Prosecutors Office. Former Chief Cowan coordinated with and assisted in investigations with the following outside agencies: United States Attorney’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Drug Enforcement Agency, United States Marshal Service, and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Additionally, as the Chief of Police Bob was often required to utilize his public speaking skills while addressing residential and business community groups as well as attending and making oral presentations at City Council Caucus Meetings.

Former Chief Cowan is prepared to put his wealth of experience to work for you.

Below is a comprehensive list of the titles Mr. Cowan held throughout his Law Enforcement Career: