News

New Canaan Police Honor 11 at Awards Ceremony

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The New Canaan Police Department on Tuesday honored six officers, four sergeants and one lieutenant in an awards ceremony in New Canaan High School’s Wagner Room. NCPD honored 11 members of the police force at an awards ceremony Tuesday night. Pictured is Capt. Andrew Walsh with Sgt. Brian Mitchell, who received the Meritorious Police Duty Award.Police Chief Leon Krolikowski presented the Lt. Stephen W Wood Officer of the Year Award to Officer Thomas Callinan. Krolikowski cited Callinan’s “self-initiative, service to the New Canaan Community, integrity and selfless service to our Department and Town” in presenting the award.

News

‘Patio and Lawn Covered in Vomit’: New Canaan Dad, Son, Daughter Arrested after Underage Drinking Party

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New Canaan Police this week arrested a 54-year-old Ponus Ridge man as well as his son and daughter following an underage drinking party at their home that saw at least one youth injured seriously enough to merit a visit to Norwalk Hospital. Jim Vos and his son Hayden Vos, 22, each were charged with failure to halt possession of alcohol by a minor. Sophie Vos, 18, was charged with permitting a minor to possess alcohol. According to arrest warrant applications from New Canaan Police who were dispatched before dawn to the upper Ponus Ridge home after learning about the youth injured at a drinking party, Jim Vos was home while it was going on. The party, which involved nearly two dozen young people and included a beer pong table set up outside, according to police, appears to have followed graduation from an out-of-state private school.

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Newest New Canaan Police Officer Sworn In; Tam Receives ‘Officer of the Year Award’; 8 Officers, 3 Civilians Honored

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The New Canaan Police Department on Tuesday recognized eight officers and three civilians for outstanding service to the community during a ceremony that also saw the agency’s newest member sworn in by the town clerk. In addressing Nicole Vartuli, a Stamford native and Westhill High School graduate who is poised for training at the Connecticut Police Academy this year with an expectation that she will undergo field training with NCPD through the early part of 2018, Chief Leon Krolikowski said that “badge you were just issued represents public trust.”

“The public willingly puts this work in your hands and trusts that you will take care of them in the proper manner,” Krolikowski said moments after Vartuli had been sworn in by Town Clerk Claudia Weber. “They do not want this responsibility for themselves. My charge to you today is to do just that: Get it right. We have all heard about the stories of officers who have gotten it wrong.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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World War II Veterans Embark On Trip to Pearl Harbor
World War II Veterans Embark On Trip to Pearl Harbor

Congratulations to New Canaan High School graduate and ABC House of New Canaan alumnus Elijah Westbrook on making great inroads with his budding broadcasting career. Since doing a summer internship with CBS News program “48 Hours,” the Quinnipiac University grad has taken a position with the CBS affiliate WROC in Rochester, N.Y. The video above is a feature story from Westbrook regarding veterans’ marking Pearl Harbor Day. ***

For the second straight year, New Canaan Police Sgt. Aaron LaTourette won the annual Commissioner’s Shoot Award, sponsored by the Perkin family. This year, LaTourette also took home the Perkin Shoot Trophy, and his name will be engraved on a bowl marking his achievements.

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Meet New Canaan’s Newest Police Officers, Matthew Blank and Sebastian Obando

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Growing up in Port Chester, N.Y., Sebastian Obando played baseball and football from his childhood through graduating from high school in the city, located just over the state line past Greenwich. The most trusted and most motivational adult figures during those formative years were sports coaches, according to Obando. And many among them were cops, he recalled. “How they carried themselves was professional and it kind of helped us all do the right thing, both on the field and off the field,” Obando, 23, said Monday from the training room at the New Canaan Police Department, days after graduating from the Connecticut Police Academy in Meriden as part of its 353rd class. “And that is something about being a police officer is you always have to do the right thing, while on duty and off duty.”

Together with fellow Officer Matthew Blank, 28, Obando is the newest member of NCPD.