Homepage Featured

‘They Work Very Hard’: New Canaan Police on Stolen Vehicle Investigations

By |

Those responsible for the daytime theft this month of a Range Rover with a dog inside the running SUV had been in New Canaan in the past in another vehicle, police said Wednesday. And what those criminals do here, Lt. Marc DeFelice told members of the Police Commission at their regular meeting, is “look for a mistake.”

“They look for you to leave your car unattended for that split 10 seconds and the keys are in it,” DeFelice said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So they’re not following people for a long while—it’s just driving around looking for a high-end car and when the victim makes a slight mistake, they capitalize on it. Done in a split second, probably 10 seconds.”

Though the 2-year-old French bulldog has been returned safely to her owner, the Range Rover itself is still missing, police have said. In New Canaan, the incident raised concerns due to the brazen and potentially confrontational nature of the theft as well as the suspects getting away.

News

Police Urge Caution as Residential Burglaries Rise in the Summer

By |

New Canaan Police are urging residents to protect their homes against burglars as the summer gets underway. Many residents go away when school lets out and “burglars like to target houses that are unoccupied,” according to Lt. Marc DeFelice, the department’s public information officer. “They’ll go to a house when people are away on vacation or out for the day, even just out to dinner or grocery shopping—in that short amount of time,” he said. 

The town, which has seen eight residential burglaries so far in 2024—including two in May—typically sees a rise in burglaries in the summer, DeFelice said. Residents should report suspicious activity to police, including strangers in the neighborhood who come to the doors of homes, and should notify neighbors when they’re going away so that someone is checking on the house, DeFelice said. “Let neighbors know who should be on your property—landscapers or other services,” he said.

News

Police: Uptick in Stolen Vehicles, Thefts from Cars in New Canaan

By |

New Canaan Police are urging residents to take precautions as both public parking lots and private residential driveways are seeing an uptick in stolen vehicles and thefts from cars. The police have already received six reports in June of vehicles stolen from driveways overnight, according to Lt. Marc DeFelice, the department’s public information officer. Nearly all of those are occurring when people leave keys or fobs in unlocked vehicles, often with valuables in sight, he said. “We’re just trying to remind people to lock their cars at night,” DeFelice said. “Take the keys inside.

News

Police: Graffiti Investigation ‘Open and Ongoing’ 

By |

New Canaan Police say they’ve investigated 30 instances of vandalism so far in 2024, and that nearly half of them (14) are related to graffiti that appeared in recent weeks in the greater downtown area. Those instances include damage to a USPS mailbox, Bristow Park, dumpsters and public and private property, according to Lt. Marc DeFelice, the department’s public information officer. Citing information supplied by investigating Officer Nicole Vartuli, he said the graffiti is “consistent with some of the graffiti tags found in the downtown area [that] have been reported at the entrance fence of the land conservation on West Road.”

“There has also been graffiti reported at the entrance bridge of the Land Trust [property] on Weed Street,” he said. Asked whether the vandalism in the parks and downtown are believe to be linked or from a single perpetrator, DeFelice said, “There have been four different graffiti tags identified that may or may not be related. NCPD has not identified any suspects at this time.

Annamaria Ceci

‘We Are Thankful for You’: Letters of Appreciation for New Canaan Police

By |

Police Chief John DiFederico presented the following letters of appreciation during the June 21 Police Commission meeting. ***

Lt. Carol Ogrinc, Officer Matthew Marzano and Officer Jeffrey Pollock

“Thank you so much for helping this panicked mom get her son out of his knotted seatbelt! I am so grateful for you and the NCPD! You are all amazing and we are thankful for you! Please enjoy these cookies!”

—Sherryl Mascarinas (June 15)

***

Officer Annamaria Ceci and Officer Kelly Coughlin

“Dear Chief DiFederico, Thank you very much for the Civilian Police Academy.