Tomi’s Retirement

Today we are announcing the retirement of K9 Tomi, a veteran dog in the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s K9 Unit. K-9 Tomi has been with the Sheriff’s Office since January 2008. During his time with the Sheriff’s Office Tomi has assisted numerous organizations such as the DEA, ATF, SCCACT, Sheriff’s NET, Homeland Security, Santa Clara Auto Theft Task Force and the Tuolumne County Narcotics team doing vehicle interdiction, search warrants, building searches and tracking and locating lost hikers and other missing people.

Tomi was an integral asset to Operation Holy Cross, which lead to the arrests and dismantling of a large scale narcotics trafficking group operating in Santa Cruz County. He has located in excess of 250 pounds of narcotics, and has assisted in the apprehension of over 200 wanted suspects. Many of these suspects gave up and surrendered peacefully due to K-9 Tomi’s presence.

In addition to his patrol duties, K-9 Tomi was an ambassador representing the Sheriff’s Office with the community and has been involved in educating local youth organizations by demonstrating his abilities. K-9 Tomi has provided demonstrations at the Santa Cruz County Fair, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, numerous local high schools and elementary schools, national night out, and the SPCA youth camp.

K-9 Tomi was an invaluable asset to the Sheriff’s Office in both his working ability and outreach to the community. K-9 Tomi was a great working dog as well as a gentle family dog and will enjoy his retirement.