Government

Selectmen Unanimously Approve Higher ‘Extra Duty’ Rates for New Canaan Police

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a higher hourly wage for members of the New Canaan Police Department when they’re helping with traffic control for utility companies or at private functions—a fee typically paid by contractors rather than local taxpayers. The “extra duty” rate—as opposed to overtime, when the town pays an officer a higher rate for shift work—has not increased in eight years, police told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting. And at $60.32 per hour for an extra duty job that goes beyond eight straight hours or $67 per hour for work between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., the New Canaan Police rate has fallen behind nearby municipalities such as Darien, Wilton, Westport, Stamford and Greenwich, officials said. Those rates will increase to $70 and $77, following a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen at the meeting, held in Town Hall. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said “it’s important that we get these [police officers] to want to take these side jobs, because I think having a police presence in town is a good thing.”

“I know they have been involved when they are on extra-duty work, that they are in town to augment the police force and stop some very serious crimes and I think it really spreads out and becomes more attractive when you get more folks taking on these jobs.”

Police Lt. Jason Ferraro, presenting the proposed new rates to the selectmen, cited instances such as when an officer saved a choking person’s life on Elm Street while working an extra-duty job nearby, or when officers working extra-duty responded to motor vehicle accidents and even serious domestic incidents involving weapons as examples of how the work has helped New Canaan.

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‘I Don’t Want Cops in My House’: Interfering Charge for New Canaan Man, 59, in Oenoke Ridge Underage Drinking Party Case; Felony Charge for Teenage Son [UPDATED]

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[Note: This article has been updated since charges against the accused have been dropped.]

A 17-year-old boy lay seriously injured and unconscious for nearly 40 minutes in the basement of an Oenoke Ridge Road home, bleeding from his ear, before emergency responders were called, partly because the father of the teen who was hosting the underage drinking party where he’d fallen insisted that nobody phone police about it, officials say. [A New Canaan man] on Thursday turned himself in on the misdemeanor charge of interfering with an emergency call in connection with the March 25 party, according to a police report. Though the [New Canaan teen’s] parents were not at home that Saturday night, they kept the injured boy’s parents in the dark about his injuries for a critical period of time and instructed their own son as well as others in the house not to call 9-1-1, according to an arrest warrant application from New Canaan Police Sgt. Peter Condos of the department’s Investigative Section. Ultimately, the father of a girl who attended the party phoned 9-1-1 himself after learning from her what was happening, Condos said in his sworn affidavit.

News

Two Pedestrians Struck by SUV at South and Harrison Avenues on Monday Night

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An SUV struck two pedestrians at South and Harrison Avenues on Monday night, police said. New Canaan Police received a call about the incident at 6:21 p.m., according to Lt. Jason Ferraro, the department’s public information officer. Both pedestrians were transported to Norwalk Hospital’s Emergency Room, Ferraro said in a press release. Their condition was not immediately known. At about 7:40 p.m., an accident reconstruction unit from the Darien Police Department arrived on the scene.

News

VIDEO: Burglars Hit Two New Canaan Homes Wednesday

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Surveillance video of residential burglary in New Canaan 9 14 16
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2016-09-14. New Canaan Police are urging residents to take steps to safeguard their homes following two burglaries in town Wednesday afternoon. At about 12:19 p.m., two suspects forced entry into the back door of a Birchwood Avenue home, according to Lt. Jason Ferraro, NCPD’s public information officer. The break-in was caught on a video surveillance system (see video above) and the homeowner contacted police. “Upon arriving officers were unable to apprehend the suspects who fled in a white 4-door hatchback older model 2000-2007 Subaru Impreza missing a front license plate,” Ferraro said.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Police say they will run a DUI checkpoint in town during the week of Christmas. The specific date and location of the checkpoint isn’t known—the department is putting out word in order to put residents on notice to stay safe and aware during the holiday, said Police Lt. Jason Ferraro. ***

Police released additional details in the accident last Monday that saw one construction worker fall an entire story at a home that’s being built on Carter Street. The man was moving a piece of plywood when he fell through a hole in the ceiling of the partially built home, from the third to second floor, police said. ***

Officials at Town Hall are grappling with a problem involving the boilers at the newly renovated and expanded building.