Police Chief Leon Krolikowski made public the following letters of commendation for officers in the department during Wednesday’s meeting of the Police Commission.
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New Canaan Police Officer Tom Callinan during traffic enforcement off of Farm Road opposite NCHS on a weekday morning in October 2014. Credit: Michael Dinan
Officer Tom Callinan
“This email is to recognize the great job by Ofc. Callinan as our West School Liaison Officer during the rating period of 2018. Throughout the 2017-18 school year Ofc. Callinan called out as often as possible to maintain a presence at the school and to build up a good rapport with the students and staff. I have heard nothing but positive feedback from the school’s administration regarding Ofc. Callinan’s work and his constant presence has been missed since he changed squads. Additionally, Ofc. Callinan volunteered on countless occasions to handle group Police Department tours for the Girl Scouts or Cub Scouts. Ofc. Callinan is always willing to step up and help in any way he can and he truly understands the importance of building a strong bond between the youth of this community and our police department.”
—Sgt. Joseph Farenga (March 21)
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Officer Shane Gibson
Officer Shane Gibson
“New Canaan High School’s Career Night 2019 was a resounding success! We had 650 students attend our March 19th evening program to list to 50 amazing speakers share their time and talents with our students. Feedback from students, speakers and parents alike has been incredible. Thank you very much for jumping in at the very last minute to find a replacement police officer to speak… Officer Shane Gibson was absolutely terrific as a speaker and we are very grateful that he was able to participate on such short notice.”
—Gretchen Russell (March 21)
“Thank you, Leon, for having Shane join us at our meeting. He was well received and informative as well as easy for people to ask questions of.”
—Steve Orteig (March 28)
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NCPD Officer Chris Dewey.
Officers Chris Dewey, Tom Callinan, Shane Gibson and Matthew Blank
“This letter of commendation is in recognition of your efforts in the development of the newly designed Dry Fire and Defensive Tactics Room. For a long time, our department has been without a designated and properly designed area to train in the proficiency of both Firearms and Defensive Tactics and Handcuffing. Each of you recognized this need and proactively looked to remedy this problem. With limited means and budget, you were able to find value based items and acquire donations that were both high quality and highly functional. With our building being currently insufficient to hold a live firing range, the development of a Dry Fire Station that has the potential to greatly improve our officer’s basic firearms fundamentals would be instrumental to the department’s firearms program.
NCPD Officers Matthew Blank and Sebastian Obando. Credit: Michael Dinan
“This training area has already proved its worth with the training instructed there just this past week. The feedback has been extremely positive; officers commented on how well put together the room was, and how the training they received enhanced their accuracy and comfort with their firearms. Also, your well-constructed design of a matted floor/wall area is giving us the ability to better train department personnel in handcuffing and defensive tactics techniques in a practical space. Each of you put forth extra time and effort in this project that goes above and beyond the norm, displaying your elevated motivation and professionalism. I wanted to thank you for helping to improve the department. Great work.”
—Capt. Andrew Walsh (April 4)