Out of Academy Pay

[FastbackJack]

Is cost of living taken into consideration when determining your pay out of the academy? Will you make more living in San Francisco than you would in Fresno?

[makakona]

ha! if only! :smile: but if you make it through on academy pay, anything looks good afterwards! you'll never get rich, but we're living in southern california with young children and making it just fine on starting officer pay alone (no other income). no home ownership on this much, but that'll come.

[FastbackJack]

Thanks - that's actually encouraging for me. I'd love to be a stay at home mom and hoping this will be the chance to do so.

[makakona]

i'm a stay at home mom and we're managing, though i'm lookong forward to when the pay will go up, haha. we don't live a luxurious life, but i get to stay home, which really IS priceless. both cars are paid off and nothing fancy, we don't eat out (except for my husband's on-shift meals, which he gets an allowance for, haha), we're not jet-setting around the world... but we are able to pay the necessary bills without carrying debt and have leftovers for some "nice things." like i said, we can't afford to buy a house in socal right now, but there are worse things than renting for a while. at the end of the day, i don't have to put my babies in daycare, which means more to us than anything else.

oh, and my in-laws managed six kids (all born within seven years!) fine on chp salary alone. they didn't take winter trips to the alps, but all kids were very active in sports (travelling sports teams, which adds up) and school extracurricular stuff and they did fine. one nice thing is that you can pick up ot shifts to save up for that vacation or big christmas or whatever.

[David]

Is cost of living taken into consideration when determining your pay out of the academy? Will you make more living in San Francisco than you would in Fresno? The CHP's website says you'll make about $53,000 after graduating, so as best I can tell, you'll start out making about $53,000 whether you're in Redding or San Diego.

[(Deleted)]

You won't have to worry about making the starting salary in Redding. Redwood City. Yes. Redding. No. Cadets don't go to Redding.

[NorCalN00b]

Is cost of living taken into consideration when determining your pay out of the academy? Will you make more living in San Francisco than you would in Fresno? The CHP's website says you'll make about $53,000 after graduating, so as best I can tell, you'll start out making about $53,000 whether you're in Redding or San Diego.
Don't forget to add PPP (Physical Performance Pay) and Uniform Allowance Pay.

[Chippysgt]

If you want to make good money, you get a good partner, you go on the drunk shift and work an urban beat where they hang out and you focus on hooking and booking. If you work hard and write good reports you will get after shift overtime finishing bookings and reports and you will go to court a few days a week, rarely having to testify because drunk driving cases are where attorney's learn to play "Let's Make a Deal".

It is a little rough on family life but it is a good way to make big bucks and buy the house, pay off the bills, or get the new pick-up with the personalized plate "DWI OT"

Oh and for a little extra, sign up for HOV and Metered Lane OT.

I was working for FEMA in San Luis Obispo after the earthquake a couple of years ago and I kept seeing patrol cars parked down by the beach in front of the gate to Diablo Canyon. Now mind you, there were well armed civilians guards down there. I found out it was a federally funded OT program providing extra security at the gate and the office was having a hard time getting guys to fill the OT slots since all they had to do was sit there and look menancing. That's what I am talking about.........gravy.........

[CHP_Rotor_King]

...what exactly is PPP?

[bcjack]

chippysgt:

Have you ever seen the Diablo Security people? VERY well trained, and really scarry!!! (If you are a bad guy)

I was there during an "Exercise"...WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!:shock:

[DReed]

The thing to remember about base pay is that you'll receive a 5% raise each year for the next four years after you graduate from the acadaemy. This is in addition to any parity pay raises that we may receive. So....if you can squeak by on the first years salary, you'll only be doing better each year after that.

So normally you spend your time in the Bay Area or LA Area for 2 to 5 years then you'll have the seniority to move to more rural areas with lower costs of living but you'll be making at least 20% more (after your last step increase) than you were your first year.

Having said that, if you're going to do this job for the money.......your not gonna last.

[NorCalN00b]

...what exactly is PPP?
http://www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/html/osalary.html

[ChippieWife]

If you want to make good money, you get a good partner, you go on the drunk shift and work an urban beat where they hang out and you focus on hooking and booking. If you work hard and write good reports you will get after shift overtime finishing bookings and reports and you will go to court a few days a week, rarely having to testify because drunk driving cases are where attorney's learn to play "Let's Make a Deal".

It is a little rough on family life but it is a good way to make big bucks and buy the house, pay off the bills, or get the new pick-up with the personalized plate "DWI OT"

Oh and for a little extra, sign up for HOV and Metered Lane OT.

I was working for FEMA in San Luis Obispo after the earthquake a couple of years ago and I kept seeing patrol cars parked down by the beach in front of the gate to Diablo Canyon. Now mind you, there were well armed civilians guards down there. I found out it was a federally funded OT program providing extra security at the gate and the office was having a hard time getting guys to fill the OT slots since all they had to do was sit there and look menancing. That's what I am talking about.........gravy.........




When in WLA, my husband worked graves and he and his partner hooked a LOT of drunks..He got tons of OT for it, and he really liked the HOV OT, too..Also, they had an 8 hour OT shift at a Worker's Comp office in Santa Monica he would sign up for on days off, and worked on his reports all day while getting OT..It's a great way to supplement income and his OT check was almost as much as his salary sometimes! Hard on family life, but love doesn't pay the bills :P

[Observer]

The base salary shown on the CHP website for Cadets is:

Salary, Overtime, and Incentives

The base salary for a CHP cadet is $3,648 while attending the Academy. In addition, cadets receive free room and board. Effective the first month following their Academy reporting date, cadets receive full health and dental benefits for themselves and their dependents.

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They also have - a higher number starting at the $4,000 --- do you get incremental raises while in the academy to reach this number or is it for people whom have college education, etc. etc.??

[snowdog]

The base salary shown on the CHP website for Cadets is:

Salary, Overtime, and Incentives

The base salary for a CHP cadet is $3,648 while attending the Academy. In addition, cadets receive free room and board. Effective the first month following their Academy reporting date, cadets receive full health and dental benefits for themselves and their dependents.

---

They also have - a higher number starting at the $4,000 --- do you get incremental raises while in the academy to reach this number or is it for people whom have college education, etc. etc.??

The higher pay scale is for cadets who have prior State service either with the CHP or another State agency. In those cases the pay scale is based on the number of years and salary prior to becoming a Cadet. The education innncentive does not take effect until you become an Officer.

[23112]

In the area that I work, there's all the overtime opportunities you want to make some extra money. Some guys at my office really bow before the altar of overtime. Know that there will probably be plenty of different ways to make more than the base salary shown on the CHP website. A lot of the saltier dogs are pulling down six figures a year on this job.

[Sportbiker]

ok...i love overtime pay no matter what job i'm at...question is...is chp happy to give it out (are the shifts always available?) I have no strings attached to me right now, and yes i can see getting burnt out quickly on a ton of OT, but if i can get those guys who abuse the HOV lane, or sittin and securing a construction site at night on my day off....I am game.

[dw]

ok...i love overtime pay no matter what job i'm at...question is...is chp happy to give it out (are the shifts always available?)

Really depends on the office. Are we happy to give out regular "shift" OT? Not really - Area or shift overtime is used for operational needs that require additional staffing, court, duty required before or after shift (such as completing a felony investigation). Reimbursable OT, that's where many guys make the money. Reimbursable OT comes in all forms from COZEEP/MAZEEP (construction/maintenance enhanced safety programs), traffic control, and grants. Grants are often related to enforcement with a specific goal, i.e "To reduce the number of seat-belt related fatality collisions on I-5 between mile marker A and B."

Some offices have a lot of voluntary OT while others have little, it really depends on the Area office.