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NCPD Officer Matt Blank Named ‘Lt. Stephen W. Wood Memorial 2026 Officer of the Year’ at Annual Ceremony

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Created in 2014, the New Canaan Police Department’s Lt. Stephen W. Wood Officer of the Year Award carries “special significance,” Chief John DiFederico said Thursday afternoon. The award recognizes “not only excellence in policing,” DiFederico told about 30 people gathered in the training room at NCPD, “but also the enduring legacy of Lt. Stephen Wood, known fondly to many of us as ‘Woody.’ ”

“Lt. Wood served the New Canaan Police Department and this community with unwavering dedication for 33 years,” the chief said. “Throughout his career, he exemplified integrity, professionalism, compassion and commitment to public service. Those values continue to guide and shape our department today. This year, one officer stood out for truly embodying those same qualities, Officer Matt Blank.”

DiFederico spoke during the NCPD’s annual awards ceremony, held during National Police Week and recognizing outstanding officers for achievements in 2025.

Opinion

Podcast: Crime Prevention in New Canaan

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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:

News
NCPD

Police: Burglaries in New Canaan Up 25% in 2025

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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. 

Government

Town To Make Weed-and-Elm a Three-Way Stop

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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.

News

Police Adding More Cameras to Downtown New Canaan

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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.