Police Chief John DiFederico shared the following letters of appreciation for New Canaan Police Department officers at the March 13 Police Commission meeting.
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Officers Owen Ochs and Nick Agoglia
“Last Wednesday, Feb. 8, I was walking my dog down Stoneleigh Road, and a young, exuberant Rhodesian Ridgeback came bounding at me. He had a collar with a phone number, but it was obscured by a kerchief. He obviously wanted to play with my leashed dog, who was half his size, but I couldn’t trust that he was friendly and did not feel it was safe to reach for him. A neighbor came out and said he didn’t belong to anyone in the neighborhood, so I called Animal Control and got the message to call the general police number. It was clear to me that the dog had no traffic sense and might get hit. He would also scare many walkers. The dispatcher was great and within 10 minutes (maybe less), two officers came and within a minute or two managed to slip a leash over his head and took him away in their squad car. I was impressed because they handled the whole thing so effortlessly and politely. I left a message for Animal Control and Allyson [Halm] called me back yesterday morning when she returned, assuring me that the dog hadn’t even been taken into the station—obviously the officers managed to read the telephone number on his collar and reunited him with his owner. I just wanted to commend your officers and say THANK YOU! And congratulations on your new job!”
— Donna Coughlin to Police Chief John DiFederico (Feb. 15)
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Officer Kelly Coughlin
“On behalf of the Canaan Close Board of Directors, I want to extend our ‘thanks’ to you for speaking at our meeting last week. You did a great job of framing the issue around property crime (especially vehicle theft and break-ins) in New Canaan and outlining deterrent actions we can take as individuals and as a community. This was a very good example of community policing. You are welcome back any time!”
—R.W. Krant to Officer Kelly Coughlin (March 2)
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Sgt. Rex Sprosta
“We came from Wilton, CT to your police station to get our new toddler a car seat installed. We had such a great experience with Sgt. Rex Sprosta. He was very professional, responsive and helpful throughout the process. It can be a bit tricky to find someone to have the car seat installed and checked but we had such a flawless experience with our department and Sgt. Sprosta. Thank you for your service to the community! We appreciate all of your work.”
—Saini [no first name given] to Chief John DiFederico (Feb. 23)