5/14/25 New Haven, CT – Fleet Key May Have Been Used To Steal A Take Home Policy Police Car From The Residence Of A Police Officer – Other Crimes Reported For Firearm Theft

A New Haven police sergeant who reported a take-home police vehicle stolen from her apartment building parking lot in North Haven had locked the Ford Explorer and had the key with her, according to an arrest warrant for the suspect in the theft.

The warrant by North Haven police for Nickolas Cano, 18, of Shelton, charging him with larceny of a motor vehicle and other crimes, says New Haven police Sgt. Savannah Smith told North Haven investigators that the 2019 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor was operated with a “fleet key.”

“It is common for police departments to utilize fleet keys for their vehicle fleet, which is a universal key that operates all or a number of different vehicles in a department’s fleet,” North Haven Police Officer Dennis Flanagan wrote in the arrest warrant affidavit.

It’s possible, New Haven police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart said, that Cano had such a key. New Haven police vehicles that operated with the universal key “have been re-keyed to prevent further issues,” Bruckhart said.

The North Haven warrant does not say whether a key was recovered when the Explorer was found backed into a garage at Cano’s home on April 14, about 24 hours after it had been taken. A department representative could not be reached Tuesday.

Bruckhart said he had heard of other cases of stolen police vehicles in Connecticut in which a fleet key likely was used.

Middlebury Police Chief Patrick Deely told his town’s police commission in February that “due to recent thefts of police vehicles in the state using a fleet key, we are looking into re-keying our fleet to mitigate any theft risk,” according to meeting minutes. Deely could not be reached for comment.

News reports show thieves have used such universal keys to pilfer police vehicles in other states, including Florida. The Palm Beach Post reported in 2018 that four juveniles unlocked 13 Boynton Beach patrol cars at the police station and stole ammunition and police gear. Investigators said the juveniles used a fleet key stolen from a Palm Beach Gardens police car, the Post reported. Neither department was aware that their patrol car keys were interchangeable, the newspaper reported.

Besides motor vehicle theft, North Haven police charged Cano with theft of a firearm and criminal possession of a firearm. Sullivan’s department-issued 9 mm handgun was inside the Explorer, along with a stun gun, handcuffs, a protective vest and other police gear. Shelton police recovered the gun and gear, along with two other stolen guns and a ghost gun, from a back yard about 1,000 feet from Cano’s home, Shelton police said.

Bruckhart said Smith does not face any discipline for leaving her gun in the vehicle. State law mandates that guns in unattended cars must be stored in the trunk, a locked safe or locked glove box. However, the law also lists exceptions, including guns possessed by police officers.