Greenwich Police Officer, Dog Graduate From State K-9 Program

GREENWICH, CT — For the first time since 2021, the Greenwich Police Department will have its own police dog.

The Connecticut State Police announced this week that it has graduated nine canine teams as part of the agency's 246th patrol K-9 class, and included is Greenwich police officer Jeff Franco and K-9 Arrow, a German Shepherd.

According to the CSP, the graduates completed an intensive and rigorous 16-week training program.

The canine teams took part in a curriculum encompassing a wide range of skills such as locating missing family members, locating critical evidence during investigations, supporting law enforcement officers and community engagement.

Greenwich's K-9 unit began in 1988 as part of the patrol division, according to the department's web page on the town website.

Officer Rick Cochran and his K-9, Yogi, was the first K-9 team in department history. The two retired in 1994 when officer Stanley Ouimette replaced them with his K-9 partner, Shadow, and they retired in 1999.

Officer John Thorme, who now leads the GPD K-9 unit, and his dog, Shilo, became the GPD's third K-9 team and the first to be trained in narcotic detection. Shilo retired in 2007.

The fourth K-9 unit in department history was officer Mike Macchia and K-9 Tyro, who was also trained in narcotic detection. He retired in 2014.

Keith Scorca and K-9 Kato worked together from 2014 to 2021 and participated in many felony arrests and missing persons cases.

Capt. John Slusarz said the department is excited to bring Arrow into the fold.

"The dogs are a tremendous asset to law enforcement," Slusarz told Patch, noting their use goes far beyond taking down bad guys.

"They're trained to track missing people, they're trained to interact socially in the public. Some of them are trained for the detection of bombs and narcotics and other specialties," Slusarz said. "A police dog usually, in most departments, really works hard. I expect that's going to be the same thing here."

Since Kato's retirement in July 2021, Greenwich has routinely relied on dogs from Stamford, the CT State Police and even from Westchester County, N.Y.

"We're very grateful for them, but it's much more advantageous to have a dog in-house," Slusarz said.

The GPD K-9 team is assigned its own police vehicle, which is specially outfitted for them, according to the GPD.

The officer and the dog live together at the officer's residence, and they are on call 24 hours a day and part of the Special Response Unit.

Dogs live with their officers in retirement.