Simi’s Honored Police Are 2-, 4-Legged

Simi Valley is home of the Toughest Cop Alive and the Best Police Dog and Police Dog Handler in the world.

The titles were earned in Vancouver, Canada, by three members of the Simi Valley Police Department at the World Police and Fire Games, a competition held every other year.

Detective Mike Bender, a 12-year veteran of the department, retained his 1987 title as Toughest Cop Alive by winning 6,667 points out of 8,000 in a competition that included a three-mile run, 20-foot rope climb and 100-meter swim. Bender, 34, outscored 166 other officers and firefighters while competing, at his request, in the most difficult category--men under 29.

William Sterling Johnson, 45, and his police dog Atlas worked as a team to win a gold medal in the police canine competition, in which the dog jumped over such obstacles as a five-foot chain-link fence and detected in which of five boxes a suspect was hiding.

Johnson has been a Simi Valley police officer for 18 years and Atlas, one of two dogs in the department, has been on the force for about three years. They scored 291.75 out of a possible 300 points.