[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16111-16112]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IN RECOGNITION OF CHIEF MARK LAYHEW

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELTON GALLEGLY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 26, 2006

  Mr. GALLEGLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition, and with thanks, 
for the 31\1/2\ years of exemplary service Police Chief Mark Layhew has 
given to the City of Simi Valley, California, as he prepares for his 
retirement next month.
  Mr. Speaker, Simi Valley is my home. I served as mayor there for 
seven years before being elected to Congress. I am proud of the fact 
that Simi Valley is routinely recognized as one of the safest cities in 
the United States. That recognition is in large part due to the caliber 
of the men and women of the Simi Valley Police Department.
  Mark has the distinction of the being the first Simi Valley police 
officer to rise from the ranks as an entry level officer to Chief of 
Police. In many ways he epitomizes the maturity and professionalism of 
the department. Mark

[[Page 16112]]

began with the department just four years after the city incorporated 
and he helped to shape it. He is not only the face of the Simi Valley 
Police Department, he is very much its soul.
  Mark acquired his sense of duty from his late father, who gave a 
lifetime of dedicated service to his country as an FBI agent.
  During his three decades with the department, Mark Layhew served in 
virtually every position. He served as an Operations Division Captain, 
Support Services Division Captain, Detective Unit Commander, SWAT 
Commander, Traffic Unit Commander, Watch Commander, and Special 
Administrative Commands.
  And that's just as a lieutenant and captain.
  As a sergeant, he served as a Patrol Field Supervisor, Field Training 
Program Manager, and Detective Supervisor. As an officer, he served as 
a Patrol Officer, Traffic Officer, Field Training Officer, Rangemaster, 
Academy Staff Officer, Planning and Research Officer, and Background 
Investigator.
  Mark earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, 
Northridge, and is a graduate of POST Command College Class #26, Simi 
Valley Leadership Class of 1999, and the 2004 POST Executive 
Development Course. In his spare time, he serves as a member of the 
Simi Sunrise Rotary and is a board member of the Simi Valley Education 
Foundation and the Simi Valley Police Foundation.
  Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues will join me in thanking my friend 
Mark Layhew for his decades of service to the City of Simi Valley and 
his country, and in wishing him, his wife, Holly, and their children 
Godspeed.

                          ____________________