In Dog Years, It’s Time to Retire

City officials who retire are often lauded by the council for their service, and it was no less the case at this week’s Culver City council meeting--except that this time one of the commendations was for a dog.

Greif, a German shepherd and a 4 1/2-year veteran of the Police Department, retired this month after participating in 107 searches for suspected felons, officials said. At age 7, he will settle into a slower pace of life at the home of his partner, Officer Cerris Black.

Greif and the department’s three other German shepherds have “(reduced) hazards to officers immeasurably,” Assistant Police Chief Paul Moncur said.

The four-legged police sleuths are more effective than officers in a variety of tasks, Moncur said. For example, he said, it takes 10 officers five hours to search a shopping mall, but two police dogs and two handlers can do the job in four hours. The dogs’ duties also include sniffing for drugs, controlling crowds and searching for guns or other contraband dropped by suspects.

During Greif’s career, he saved the department more than 1,200 man hours of police work, his commendation said.