[2] In 1976, he graduated from West Chester State College with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.
[3] Among other roles, he worked as a hostage negotiator, an investigator of the Camp Hill Prison riots, and a special counsel for state attorney general's probe into Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen.
[3] On August 9, 2008, after state police commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller stepped down from his position to take a role with the National Football League, Governor Ed Rendell named Pawlowski as acting commissioner of the state police.
[5] He continued to serve as the head of the state police, commanding approximately 6,000 civilian and enlisted employees, until he retired on January 7, 2011.
[6] He was succeeded by Frank Noonan, an appointee of newly elected governor Tom Corbett.