NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/tag/capt-john-difederico)
In this installment of 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan Police Chief John DiFederico. The department is hosting a crime prevention presentation at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9 at New Canaan Library (register here). Police will field questions from attendee as part of the event. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:
Burglaries in New Canaan are up 25% year-over-year through the first 11 months of 2025, officials say. The rise, from 20 burglaries through November 2024 to 25 in the same time period this year, is prompting the New Canaan Police Department to advise residents “to secure their houses and put on their alarms and lights, and secure their vehicles—especially when people go on vacation,” according to Police Chief John DiFederico. “We are seeing these burglaries continue to trend upward,” DiFederico told members of the Police Commission during their regular meeting, held Wednesday night at NCPD headquarters. “Our investigators are working every single day to try and develop some suspects, and working regionally with other agencies that are seeing the same trends. So we are working hard on that.”
The comments came during a review of monthly statistics.
Police this past summer warned residents about a new method that burglars used to get inside homes: Using ladders on people’s properties to climb to second-floor entrances.
Overall, larcenies—including at New Canaan businesses and organizations—are about the same year-over-year, according to the data shared by DiFederico.
After years of wrangling about it, town officials decided this week to make the intersection at Elm and Weed Streets a three-way stop. Currently, there’s only a stop sign for motorists on Elm Street, approaching Weed. Police say they’ve received an increasing number in complaints in recent years about motorists ignoring pedestrians trying to get across Weed, including many who are coming to or from Irwin Park. “Obviously there’s a high volume of pedestrian traffic there, to get to Irwin and back from Irwin,” Police Chief John DiFederico said Tuesday night during a regular meeting of the Police Commission, New Canaan’s designated local traffic authority. “Although it’s a real flat road there, if you’re coming south on Weed Street there’s a bit of a crown in the road, and it’s difficult to see the intersection as you approach on Weed Street from the north,” DiFederico said during the meeting, held at police headquarters and via videoconference.
New Canaan Police say they’re adding more cameras downtown that will capture car crashes such as the one that stopped traffic at Main and Elm Streets two weeks ago. Specifically, the department is adding more ‘pan tilt zoom’ cameras to downtown streets such as Elm “to document and capture things like what occurred yesterday [Oct. 20],” according to Police Chief John DiFederico. “They’re video camera systems that are better equipped at capturing and documenting events rather than license plate cameras,” DiFederico told members of the Board of Selectmen at their Oct. 21 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
The chief’s comments came during the Board’s discussion before approving a $28,000 annual service contract with an Atlanta-based company for license plate recognition hardware and software.
Town resident Stuart Sawabini, a dedicated community volunteer who helped guide the renovation and expansion of the New Canaan Police Department and led efforts to improve communications for emergency responders, has died, officials say. NCPD announced Sawabini’s passing Thursday in a press release issued by Chief John DiFederico. A Police Commission member from 2005 to 2018, Sawabini “brought extensive and valuable experience to the department through his service on the town’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, the Community Emergency Response Team, and his deep expertise in information technology,” DiFederico said in the press release. The chief noted that Sawabini “was a strong advocate for improving radio coverage throughout New Canaan.”
“He spearheaded a project that significantly enhanced communication capabilities across the town—an achievement that continues to benefit public safety operations today,” DiFederico said. “He was also a strong proponent of a new police headquarters, providing insightful feedback and technical knowledge that proved invaluable to planning and development efforts.”
Sawabini’s “dedication, selflessness, and commitment to public safety exemplified the very best in civic leadership,” the press release said.