On Leon Krolikowski's first day as the new interim Chief of Police for the New Canaan Police Department, his town was under a tornado warning before noon, so it had been a busy morning. Luckily, no tornado made an appearance.
"So far, so good," he said, laughing.
Krolikowski's first act of business as chief was gaining perspective, he said. He's been meeting with personnel and groups and had plans to continue doing so for the next few weeks as he felt out what everyone's ideas were and in what direction people wanted to see the department move.
"I'm developing plans, for the short term and the long term," he said. "Where do people think we should go? I'm planning to meet each member of the department to talk with them about that.
Krolikowski has been a member of the New Canaan Police Department for 24 years. Starting as a patrolman, he joined the Special Response Team (SRT), made Patrol Sergeant, moved up to Executive Officer of the SRT, was promoted to Lieutenant, became the Commander of the SRT, made Captain, was appointed Captain of Operations and finally arrived at the title of chief.
"My entire police career has been in the town of New Canaan," Krolikowski said.
His family is well established here. he has a 12-year-old son and two daughters, 14 and 16, all of whom attend New Canaan schools. His wife, Anna, is an established business owner in downtown New Canaan where she operates the Baskin Robbins.
"I've lived here for 20 or so years and married a girl from New Canaan," he said. "She was an EMT in the ambulance corps, that's how we met."
As far as what Krolikowski thinks his goals will be, he's not ready to divulge that just yet. He wants to take the time to make sure he has all the insight he can get from the people who do the job everyday and from the citizens they serve and protect. The feedback, so far, has been extremely positive, and Krolikowski thanked the folks in town who are so supportive of their force.
"I want to wait to have all the members' input and thoughts on the direction we should be heading in," he said. "In 2009 or 2010, I started up the K-9 division again. We had to solicit funds from the public and we raised thousands of dollars fairly quickly. It's an indicator of how supportive the community is."
Krolikowski also said the extreme dedication of the New Canaan officers and the support of the police commissioners made heading into the position an easy move.
"We have exceptional officers here across the board. They're motivated and are able to successfully serve the community. The clearance rate for investigations is very high and it's a testament to the members of the police department," he said. "I'd also thank Commissioners [James S.] Cole, [Stuart] Sawabini and [Sperry] DeCew for putting their faith in me."
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