The chief of police is asking New Canaan residents to take precautions following a recent uptick in home burglaries.
The New Canaan Police Department responded to five burglary calls in January, up from zero in December and just two in the year-ago month, Chief John DiFederico reported at the Feb. 15 Police Commission meeting.
“We had quite an uptick in the burglary trend,” DiFederico said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference.
“It’s one of those things that seem to be cyclical and when a crew gets going, they kind of hit hard and fast and we’ve had some go through town,” he continued. “We put out some social media tips to keep the lights on, keep the doors locked, obviously. They seem to be going after particular houses. Houses where no one is home either for short periods of time, or people went down to Darien for a couple of hours and they come back and their house was burglarized. So the more it looks like your house is occupied with lights and timers, obviously set your alarms, lock your doors and it can prevent those.”
Commission Chair Jim McLaughlin asked whether it’s happening in neighboring towns, too. DiFederico said yes.
McLaughlin said, “It’s always worrisome because you get a burglary and maybe the person is home.”
DiFederico said that is a “concerning” scenario.
“Like I say, there was one where people were away for a short period of time—it was not in the late hours, it was around dinner time or early evening,” he said “So it is concerning. Fortunately we have not had that yet, but it is concerning.”