Annamaria Ceci

‘No Greater Reward’: Letters of Appreciation for New Canaan Police

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Police Chief Leon Krolikowski shared the following letters of appreciation for New Canaan Police Department officers and staff at the Jan. 15 Police Commission meeting. ***

Leon Krolikowski and the New Canaan Police Department

“Just a quick note to let you know that your work and that the officers in the department are most appreciated and do not go unnoticed. I was thinking especially of the first responders from Tuesday’s terrible situation on North Wilton Road. My grandfather was a police officer in Rye, as I think I’ve told you in the past.

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Newest New Canaan Police Officer Sworn In; Tam Receives ‘Officer of the Year Award’; 8 Officers, 3 Civilians Honored

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The New Canaan Police Department on Tuesday recognized eight officers and three civilians for outstanding service to the community during a ceremony that also saw the agency’s newest member sworn in by the town clerk. In addressing Nicole Vartuli, a Stamford native and Westhill High School graduate who is poised for training at the Connecticut Police Academy this year with an expectation that she will undergo field training with NCPD through the early part of 2018, Chief Leon Krolikowski said that “badge you were just issued represents public trust.”

“The public willingly puts this work in your hands and trusts that you will take care of them in the proper manner,” Krolikowski said moments after Vartuli had been sworn in by Town Clerk Claudia Weber. “They do not want this responsibility for themselves. My charge to you today is to do just that: Get it right. We have all heard about the stories of officers who have gotten it wrong.

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PHOTO: New Canaan Police Untangle Distressed Deer Caught in Soccer Net

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New Canaan Police are getting high praise Wednesday after risking injury to free a deer who had become entangled in a front yard soccer net. At about 7:30 a.m., Officers Andrea Alexander, Shane Gibson and Sebastian Obando untangled the buck on Fable Farm Road. Officer Allyson Halm of the NCPD Animal Control section said the trio worked hard to hold down the distressed deer and free the animal, which could have kicked or otherwise hurt them. “They deserve a lot of praise for what they did—these animals are not easy to manage,” Halm said. It’s mating or “rutting” season now for deer, Halm said, that will continue through January.

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Meet New Canaan’s Newest Police Officers, Matthew Blank and Sebastian Obando

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Growing up in Port Chester, N.Y., Sebastian Obando played baseball and football from his childhood through graduating from high school in the city, located just over the state line past Greenwich. The most trusted and most motivational adult figures during those formative years were sports coaches, according to Obando. And many among them were cops, he recalled. “How they carried themselves was professional and it kind of helped us all do the right thing, both on the field and off the field,” Obando, 23, said Monday from the training room at the New Canaan Police Department, days after graduating from the Connecticut Police Academy in Meriden as part of its 353rd class. “And that is something about being a police officer is you always have to do the right thing, while on duty and off duty.”

Together with fellow Officer Matthew Blank, 28, Obando is the newest member of NCPD.

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Town Swears In Two New Police Officers: Matthew Blank and Sebastian Obando

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The public willingly puts its trust in the hands of New Canaan Police Department officers and civilians trust that they’ll be taken care of in the proper manner, the police chief said Thursday. Citizens don’t want that responsibility for themselves, and ask that those in uniform “get it right,” Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said during a swearing-in ceremony for the department’s two newest officers. “My charge to you is to do just that: Get it right,” he told Matthew Blank and Sebastian Obando prior to Town Clerk Claudia Weber swearing in the two new officers during the ceremony, held at Lapham Community Center. “We all have heard about stories of officers who have gotten it wrong. Remember that not everyone will automatically understand what you are doing as a police officer, or why you make certain decisions.