Around Town

First ‘Run with the Law’ Coming to New Canaan This Spring

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New Canaan law enforcement officials are calling on town residents to participate in a new fundraiser for a cause that police here have supported in other ways for more than 30 years—Special Olympics of Connecticut. According to New Canaan Police Officer Ron Bentley, plans are underway to hold an inaugural 5K ‘Run with the Law’ at Waveny in the spring. The project is in its “infancy stages,” he said. “Athletes depend on sponsorships to compete [in the Special Olympics],” Bentley told NewCanaanite.com. “Last year, the event was held in Los Angeles.

Around Town

VIDEO: New Canaan Remembers, Honors Those Lost on 9/11

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9 11 Memorial Ceremony New Canaan Sept 9 2016
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2016-09-09. For New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, a town resident, father and U.S. Marines veteran, no words or ceremony could replace the losses that our nation suffered in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. What we can do, Krolikowski told those gathered in front of Town Hall on a hot and humid Friday morning, is “reflect, and honor each day those we have lost—and we must never forget.”

“The most fitting ceremony for the lives lost on September 11 is not etched on the memorial across the street,” Krolikowski said during a solemn memorial ceremony honoring those lost on 9/11, referring to a 16-foot section of steel column from the core section of World Trade Center Tower One on the 99thfloor—just above the impact point of United flight 175—that stands outside the New Canaan Firehouse. “And is not the ceremony today, but it is etched in our hearts as we enjoy the freedom that was made possible by the grave sacrifice of the many lives that have been lost from September 11th forward.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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New Canaan Police Department 22 Push-Up Challenge for Vets
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2016-09-07. New Canaan Police on Wednesday joined a global initiative designed to support veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Launched three years ago by Honor Courage Commitment Inc., the #22KILL effort is being recognized by NCPD with members opting in to do 22 pushups daily for 22 days. Based on the statistic that 22 U.S. veterans commit suicide each day on average due to PTSD, it’s a way to “show veterans that they are appreciated and not alone in their darkest hour,” said Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, himself a veteran. The public, veterans and emergency responders are invited to join the police at 2:45 p.m. on each of the next 21 remaining days for the initiative.

Around Town

‘This Way He Will Not Be Forgotten’: Golf Tournament Honoring Fallen New Canaan Police Officer To Support Scholarship for NCHS Students

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A local nonprofit organization that helps police families throughout the area who have suffered from illness, disability or the loss of a loved one is creating a scholarship that will go to a deserving New Canaan High School student while honoring a local police officer who died while on the job 25 years ago. This year, proceeds from the New Canaan Police Benevolent Association’s annual Jim Martin Memorial Cops & Robbers Golf Tournament will fund a new, need-based scholarship at NCHS, according to the organization’s president, Officer Roberto Lopez, and vice president, Officer Ron Bentley. A local tradition since the 1970s that has been held in Martin’s honor since he died in 1991, the golf tournament in past years has raised money that went to the fallen officer’s widow and children. Those kids are grown now, the officers said, and approached with an idea of honoring her husband by helping a local student work toward their goals, Lauren Martin “was all for it,” Lopez said. “We came up with this to keep the tradition going and to keep something in his name,” he said.

News

New Canaan Police To Launch ‘Coffee with a Cop’

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Seeking to forge and foster positive relationships between officers and civilians as divides between the two have yielded violent clashes elsewhere, the New Canaan Police Department soon will launch ‘Coffee with a Cop.’

The new program, which has launched successfully in neighboring Norwalk, is designed to bolster already “exceptional” relationships between officers and civilians in New Canaan, according to Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. “The majority of the community and our officers are well-respected and appreciated, but violence around the nation affects everybody, and just because New Canaan is a relatively safe town, that doesn’t mean that officers are not concerned about their safety and how the public views them,” he said. Krolikowski referred to incidents that have seen five police officers killed and nine wounded in Dallas on July 7, then three officers killed and three injured in Baton Rouge 10 days later. The Dallas shootings brought the total number of law enforcement officers who had died in the line of duty to 31, compared to 18 for the same point in 2015, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The idea of bringing ‘Coffee with a Cop’ to New Canaan was Officer Ron Bentley’s, the chief said.