Ridgefield K-9 Officer Zeus Retires After 8 Years on the Force

In May, the Ridgefield Police Department’s K-9 officer Zeus officially retired from duty.

Zeus, a 10-year-old German Shepard, has been with Rdigefield Police since 2006, when he was teamed with his handler, Officer Shawn Murray.

Zeus was certified as a police dog through Renbar Kennels in obedience, apprehension/handler protection, narcotics detection, area searches, tracking, article searches and building searches.

During Zeus’ career, he was responsible for over 250 narcotics arrests, performed hundreds of demonstrations for the public and conducted over 50 tracks for missing or wanted individuals.

During these tracks, Zeus located six individuals that were in life-threatening situations and six suspects that had fled the scene of crimes.

The largest amount of narcotics Zeus was responsible for seizing was 10 pounds of marijuana, which occurred in 2006.

Zeus was forced to retire as a result of a degenerative hip disorder after over 8 years of service. (The average working life of a police dog is 7 years.)

In retirement, Zeus will continue to live with his handler, Officer Murphy.

The RPD’s K-9 program is funded entirely by private donations and the department will be receiving a new K-9 in September.

In a release, the department thanked all who have contributed to the program over the years and, of course, Zeus, for the excellent service he provided.