Greenwich Police Dog Retires After 7 Years Of Service

GREENWICH, CT — After seven years of service, Kato, a Greenwich Police dog, is retiring.

Kato, an 8-year-old German Shepherd, officially retired from the Greenwich Police Department on July 1. His handler, Officer Keith Scorca, subsequently adopted him.

"I've been with him pretty much every single day for the past seven years. It's good because he can enjoy his retirement years. We were worried because, like all dogs, they're not immune to the hardships of the job. He suffers from hip dysplasia and what's called degenerative spinal stenosis," Scorca said. "It's getting to the point now where we didn't want something catastrophic to happen whether it be on an actual call for service, or during a training scenario where he blows his back out and can't walk and god forbid we have to make the decision to put him down if he's suffering so much. He did his time, and we want to let him enjoy his retirement."

Dogs are invaluable tools to police departments, Scorca said, because they help deter crime and control suspects, especially in dangerous situations. Last December, a retired officer who works security in a private Greenwich community contacted the GPD to report that an unauthorized vehicle had entered the premises, and that the occupants were observed entering driveways. In a news release at the time, police said the suspects came to Greenwich from New Jersey with the intent to steal valuables from unlocked cars.

Officers responded to the scene, as did Kato and Scorca.

Scorca said he would lower his window on calls to alert people that he had a K9 with him.

"Normally these guys would run and flee from the scene, but when the dog got there, they heard Kato howling in the car trying to get out. The looks on their faces said it all. It saves the use of force because it's such a high deterrent," Scorca said.

During the investigation, police said the vehicle was searched and two handguns with high capacity magazines and ammunition were found, along with narcotics and marijuana.

In a more recent case earlier this year, officers responded to a burglar alarm at a synagogue in town one night. During a perimeter check, a broken window was discovered that was big enough for someone to fit inside.

The janitor for the building and the keyholder arrived, and noticed that the boys' bathroom door near the broken window was locked, which was unusual. Scorca took Kato up to the bathroom door.

"I brought the dog back into the building, and as soon as he got up to the door, I could immediately tell by his change of behavior that someone was in there. After numerous announcements that we were going to deploy the dog inside the room, we deployed him into the room and the guy was barricaded in the bathroom stall. We didn't know if he was armed, we didn't know what he was going to do in there."

Kato was sent underneath the stall and he bit the man on the hand to end the standoff.

"It's just an invaluable tool because we don't know the type of situation we're going into. Everyone was unhurt in that situation, but you never know what you're going to get," Scorca added.

Kato was imported from the Czech Republic; he even has his own passport. The GPD got him from a breeder in Middletown, N.Y., who specializes in military and police dogs. Scorca had to attend training for three months in order to learn how to train Kato. He also went to additional training on narcotics detection.

Scorca said the department will open up the process to assign another dog to an officer over the next few months. While Kato will still be at his home, Scorca said he'll miss the companionship in the patrol car.

"The thing I'm going to miss the most is the small talk that we make in the car together. You had a living, breathing, intelligent creature behind you for the past seven plus years, and now you're in the car solo. Just the noises he'd make, him popping his head out to see what's going on behind the crate when we're arriving on a call. Things like that are the things I'll really hold onto," Scorca said.