Salary

[dw]

Bilingual officers who pass the test are paid an extra $100/month.

A Bachelors Degree is an extra 5% of base pay...

I don't mind sharing numbers for a real-world example, it's public after all.

At top-step Officer, with a BS, my gross pay with NO overtime was $74,330 this year.

I get paid $50.42/hour (gross) for overtime... So, I'd need $25,670 in OT to make $100k total. That's 509 hours of OT for the year, or about 42 hours OT every month. Figure you work at least a dozen hours because of incidents that occur at the end of shift / in-custody reports to write, etc... 42 hours/month is doable without even cutting into your days off.

[Cameron]

The starting salary for a new CHP Officer is $50,952/annum. The www.chp.ca.gov website states:

"On the average, CHP officers annually average approximately $10,000 of paid overtime."

Is this approximation realistic? I'm not asking because I am solely interested in the salary of a CHP Officer, but have been very curious as to whether this is possible.

Also, the website states that all Officers receive an annual uniform allowance of $570. In your experience, does this even approach covering the cost of purchasing/replacing uniforms?

Thanks, everybody.

[Tom]

Depending on your area-you can make a TON of OT or not. I personally know guys that are making over 100K (Officers) They were listed in the Chronicle:cry: Anyway the Uniform Allowance does not come close to what you will spend per year, especially if you ride a motor, but it is a tax deduction!

Tom

[dw]

At top step Officer, after five years of service, $75,000+ is very realistic with minimal overtime.

[Mac]

The starting salary for a new CHP Officer is $50,952/annum. The www.chp.ca.gov website states:

"On the average, CHP officers annually average approximately $10,000 of paid overtime."

Is this approximation realistic? I'm not asking because I am solely interested in the salary of a CHP Officer, but have been very curious as to whether this is possible.

Also, the website states that all Officers receive an annual uniform allowance of $570. In your experience, does this even approach covering the cost of purchasing/replacing uniforms?

Thanks, everybody.
As Tom and DW explained, that's a VERY realistic figure....and like Tom, I also know some guys who make over $100K/yr.

The uniform allowance is considered taxable income, so you don't see the full $570 in your pocket - and in any case, it doesn't cover what you'll spend in a year for uniforms.

[FuelInjection09]

Depending on your area-you can make a TON of OT or not. I personally know guys that are making over 100K (Officers) They were listed in the Chronicle:cry: Anyway the Uniform Allowance does not come close to what you will spend per year, especially if you ride a motor, but it is a tax deduction!

Tom

I was also told one could make over 100k annually, but not right off the bat. To reach that though, one would have to work like a dog, day in and day out. I think that's more of a recruiting tool than reality.

And does having a bachelor degree really make a significant difference in income, besides it being a "must" for promotion? I was looking at the site, and the numbers didn't look all that appealing. Are these figures still accurate, and those are before taxes, correct? http://www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/html/osalary.html

[Chipper]

I have 2.5 years on, and this year I made 74,000, and only about 11,000 was OT. We hardly ever get OT in my office, average about 15 hours per month, and thats if you take the 2 traffic court days as RDO's to get OT.

Chipper

[Cameron]

Thanks for the responses, gentlemen. Very much appreciated.

Hey, be safe out there these next few days. And have a wonderful Christmas.

[Mac]

Hey, be safe out there these next few days. And have a wonderful Christmas.
Same to you, Cameron!

[CHPwannaBE]

Just curious. For you current CHPs, how many officers from each station speak Spanish? I am guessing more at the border stations. Do the bilingual officers get paid more also?

[x MAIT]

FuelInjection09. Speaking for myself and probably a lot of the old timers, salary wasn't why we became CHP Officers. If you are looking for a 6 figure income, maybe you should do something else. Back when I came on.......sorry. Anyway, I made just over $800 a month. Since I had just left the Army where I was making $400 a month, I couldn't believe how much money I had. I never thought the job was about money. It was always about the job. You can make a lot of money doing different things, but you will never have the excitement, boredom, and sometimes terror that come with the job. We are never paid enough for what we do, but most of us do it because we love it.

Unless it has changed since I left, with a 4 year degree and several years experience, you get $200 more each month.

I never made more than $80k in a year. Even though I liked the money from OT, I liked spending my days off with my family more.

[redhead]

This is a great topic and thanks for sharing some real world numbers DW.

[FuelInjection09]

FuelInjection09. Speaking for myself and probably a lot of the old timers, salary wasn't why we became CHP Officers. If you are looking for a 6 figure income, maybe you should do something else. Back when I came on.......sorry.

I'm not doing it for the money either. I just don't want to be stuck in a job I hate. With CHP I can actually get up in the morning and look forward to going to work. I was just curious what numbers were, because I still plan of finishing college...slowly but surely. :razz:

Thanks guys.

[retchp]

Yikes, my pension is already beginning to look paltry!!!:sad:
Just remember something I told a few guys when I was retiring...You start making a hundred grand a year the department might start expecting some quality work out of you, things like legible documents and well written reports and squared away uniforms.:lol:
Anyway, it is amazing how fast things change. When I retired a few short years ago, fifty to sixty grand was a decent living. Now it is low income. Go figure.

[DESERT RAT]

FI109, In regards to an earlier post about the numbers not looking to impressive. I guarantee that if you make it through the process, Academy you will be making double what most 21yr olds are. Wow! 20 yrs old and 50K base pay doesnt look impressive!

[DESERT RAT]

FI109, In regards to an earlier post about the numbers not looking to appealing. I guarantee that if you make it through the process, Academy you will be making double what most 21yr olds are. Wow! 20 yrs old and 50K base pay doesnt look appealing!

[DESERT RAT]

Ok, Im dumb! I posted the same thing twice. By the way, where is that edit button?

[SB 405]

New rule...only cops get the edit button.

[Tom]

I don't have no stinkin' edit button.

Tom

[SB 405]

I was told because the edits were being abused only Officers were going to be able to edit. I don't agree with that decision but who am I to argue.

[Fuller]

[quote=x MAIT]FuelInjection09. Speaking for myself and probably a lot of the old timers, salary wasn't why we became CHP Officers. If you are looking for a 6 figure income, maybe you should do something else. Back when I came on.......sorry.

I'm not doing it for the money either. I just don't want to be stuck in a job I hate. With CHP I can actually get up in the morning and look forward to going to work.

Very smart thinking FI09. As someone who can tell you from experience, it's FAR better to be in a job that you like and make less money than it is to be stuck in a job you hate, but that pays better. Someone gave me the same advice once, but I chose not to listen and went after money. Yes, you may love the job at first, but with high paying jobs comes expectations for longer hours(no OT pay if salaried typically), which results in loss of your social life, which leads to burnout, which ultimately leads to dreading coming to work every day. Not to mention, the hours tend to drag on by if you're not enjoying what you do. Not that I think the CHP doesn't pay well, especially since they pay for OT on top of base salary. I would imagine that doing the job of a CHP officer, a 10 or 12 hour day would fly by in no time.

[SB 405]

Day may not fly by so fast if your sitting in a parking lot doing paperwork for half your shift. I see Officers sitting in our lot for long periods working on reports.

[Fuller]

That is certainly good to know, especially for those of us who might me "on the fence" about pursuing this profession.

[FuelInjection09]

FI109, In regards to an earlier post about the numbers not looking to appealing. I guarantee that if you make it through the process, Academy you will be making double what most 21yr olds are. Wow! 20 yrs old and 50K base pay doesnt look appealing!

That's a very good point.

[Tom]

Did I get demoted and nobody told me? I still have my badge and gun.

Tom

[SB 405]

Tom...just so you'll feel right at home please fill out the the proper forms (in triplicate) and process them through the main office ASAP to regain the edit feature.:lol:

[dw]

I don't have no stinkin' edit button.

Tom

Whoops... Should be fixed, I had to create a new access mask. (Translation for motors: me makie work again) ;)

[dw]

Something else I forgot to mention is the State paid $24,732 into my retirement last year (zero out of pocket). This needs to be considered when comparing numbers with the private sector. I have a friend who makes an even $100k and after paying into his 401k, I take home more. (Again, without overtime)

[Tom]

Thank Yew DW, It workie know. Have a happy festivus!

Tom

[Cameron]

Thanks again for all the great feedback on this thread!

[Fuller]

It's another FESTIVUS MIRACLE!!!!!!!!! HAAAAAAAAAA!!!:lol:

[FuelInjection09]

FI109, In regards to an earlier post about the numbers not looking to impressive. I guarantee that if you make it through the process, Academy you will be making double what most 21yr olds are. Wow! 20 yrs old and 50K base pay doesnt look impressive!

That's a very good point. I'll be ahead of the game, especially when most grads are leaving school in debt.

[HwyChaser]

Trust me, you will make more than 50k your first year. Your first year you most likely will be around the 65k range, maybe even more with extra OT.

[CaliforniaHighwayPatrol]

Right now I am working at my college making $6.75 and hour and about $5,000 a year. So $50,000 a year is a blessing.

[Mac]

It's like I always say - you'll never get rich on this job, but you won't have to worry where your next meal is coming from either.

You can definitely make a lot more money in the private sector with a good education and/or the right connections - weekends and holidays off, and maybe even a cozy little corner office with a view....but in a lot of those type of jobs, you'll always have your ear to the wall listening to the whispers about cutbacks, layoffs, and the new hotshot who's gunning for your job. I'll bet every one of us here knows at least ONE person who has been laid off from their high-paying job, and ended up scrambling frantically to make ends meet while they sent out resumes and pounded the pavement looking for another position elsewhere. Now, can anybody tell me when's the last time the CHP laid people off???

[Kurt]

Being 21 and making over 50K would have been great. I'm 28 and just cleared 31K this year, so a job that pays over 50 would make it seem like I'll have more money than I'll know what to do with. :lol: Regardless, though, just have a job that's meaningful is a great motivator for me (sitting at this cubicle is pretty futile).

[johnnyd]

Could anyone comment on the pay of management positions? Sgt / Lt / Cpt pay? Do they receive overtime?

[Tom]

Sergeants make OT, above that no OT. Not sure what their salaries are though. Someone else?

Tom

[NWTSCL]

http://www.spb.ca.gov/employment/spbpayrd.htm

Search for "Highway Patrol".

[TheForceCHP]

http://www.spb.ca.gov/employment/spbpayrd.htm

Search for "Highway Patrol".

some nice info. in there

[Mac]

some nice info. in there
Salary info aside, if you look at the Class Spec for the rank of Officer it will give you some useful information to study and memorize - it may be useful to you at some point in the testing/hiring process.

[Mac]

Could anyone comment on the pay of management positions? Sgt / Lt / Cpt pay? Do they receive overtime? You can find the salary info in the link that NWTSCL posted - it lists Base Salary Ranges for every uniformed rank on the Department and many of the non-uniformed ranks. As Tom said - Sgts make OT, Lieutenants and above do not.

[ruda001]

Hello Everyone! I am A newbee to the forum and would like to ask officers about the current pension.
Is it 3% @ 50?
Will it change for prospective officers?

also are there any incentives provided to officers to further pursue higher eduction i.e. BS, MS, etc.?

thanks

[Mac]

Hello Everyone! I am A newbee to the forum and would like to ask officers about the current pension.
Is it 3% @ 50?
Will it change for prospective officers?

also are there any incentives provided to officers to further pursue higher eduction i.e. BS, MS, etc.?

thanks
Yes, it's 3% at 50 - no change in sight for prospective (or current) officers.

As far as education incentives, read the thread in this forum titled "Education" - amongst all the debate, there are several posts which explain the educational incentives offered.

[ruda001]

Hello Everyone! I am A newbee to the forum and would like to ask officers about the current pension.
Is it 3% @ 50?
Will it change for prospective officers?

also are there any incentives provided to officers to further pursue higher eduction i.e. BS, MS, etc.?

thanks
Yes, it's 3% at 50 - no change in sight for prospective (or current) officers.

As far as education incentives, read the thread in this forum titled "Education" - amongst all the debate, there are several posts which explain the educational incentives offered.
thanks for the quick response. As for education incentives I meant to specifically ask if CHP will pay for your eduaction after becoming an officer?
There are many PD's that will pay tuition, books, and other misc. fees for their officers to pursue a higher education. I read the forum tittled "education" and was fascinated by the whole discussion.
thanks

[dw]

Hello Everyone! I am A newbee to the forum and would like to ask officers about the current pension.
Is it 3% @ 50?
Will it change for prospective officers?

also are there any incentives provided to officers to further pursue higher eduction i.e. BS, MS, etc.?

thanks
Yes, it's 3% at 50 - no change in sight for prospective (or current) officers.

As far as education incentives, read the thread in this forum titled "Education" - amongst all the debate, there are several posts which explain the educational incentives offered.
thanks for the quick response. As for education incentives I meant to specifically ask if CHP will pay for your eduaction after becoming an officer?
There are many PD's that will pay tuition, books, and other misc. fees for their officers to pursue a higher education. I read the forum tittled "education" and was fascinated by the whole discussion.
thanks

Nope... No money to pay for education expenses.

[SR-25]

Bilingual officers who pass the test are paid an extra $100/month.

A Bachelors Degree is an extra 5% of base pay...

.

How much more do K-9 officers make a month and is there any extra pay for SWAT officers?

[Kurt]

A Bachelors Degree is an extra 5% of base pay...



Yeah, man, that is so awesome. Finally, I can get something from going to college :lol: (besides the education I got)

[dw]

Bilingual officers who pass the test are paid an extra $100/month.

A Bachelors Degree is an extra 5% of base pay...

.

How much more do K-9 officers make a month and is there any extra pay for SWAT officers?

Canine is $130/month. Nothing I'm aware of for SWAT.

[Your Mentor]

Understand that K-9 officers are not given a skill pay bonus. The $130 is meant to offset the wear and tear on uniforms and is not considered skill pay. Also, our SWAT team receives NO skill pay bonus at all. In fact, it's a part time job, not a full time job as with LAPD. Our SWAT members are officers assigned to the Capital. They work regular shifts and beats and respond to SWAT call outs as a side line. They do train a lot though. And finally, we only have the one SWAT unit so there are limited opportunities there.

dw, I thought a Bachelors only earned an additional $200 a month, regardless of base pay.

[dw]

dw, I thought a Bachelors only earned an additional $200 a month, regardless of base pay.

Nope. MOU, page 22: AA is 2.5%, no less than $120. BA is 5%, no less than $240.

The 5% actually works out to about $273/month for me. :cool:

[Mac]

Yep - that changed with our last contract.

[Cameron]

I had always wondered what the story was on CHP SWAT Officers, but could find very little info about the Officers/ their normal duties. When I did a Google search on CHP SWAT, the majority of the hits I got were about this time that the CHP SWAT was called to the Golden Gate Bridge in 2004 for a suicide attempt- a guy sitting on a narrow ledge, threatening to jump.

Link for Golden Gate suicide attempt:

http://www.chp.ca.gov/pdf/baybridge040204.pdf

[highway sentinel]

Where on our check does it show, if anywhere, where we are getting compensated for our degree?

Nope. MOU, page 22: AA is 2.5%, no less than $120. BA is 5%, no less than $240.

The 5% actually works out to about $273/month for me. :cool:

[Capsicum]

Where on our check does it show, if anywhere, where we are getting compensated for our degree?

Its doesn't. If you want to see a break down, contact the clerical supervisor at your office. They will then need to request this from HQ.

[highway sentinel]

thank you, sir.

[LovemyCADET08]

Can the cadets take the bilingual test at the academy? Or do they have to wait until they pass probation, if they can in the academy how does he go about that?

Thanks!

[TheForceCHP]

Can the cadets take the bilingual test at the academy? Or do they have to wait until they pass probation, if they can in the academy how does he go about that?

Thanks!

At the academy and they will let them know at the academy, not something to worry about.

[Indigomontoya]

Is it possible to be classified as bilingual in a language other than spanish?

[Eagl5]

yes

[Indigomontoya]

is it any language? I've been taking japanese in college.

[cain.vanessa]

Is it possible to be classified as bilingual in a language other than spanish?

yes

is it any language? I've been taking japanese in college.

My guess would be yes, according to Eagl5's response.

[TheForceCHP]

My guess would be yes, according to Eagl5's response.

We have no need to pay people to be bilingual in every language.

[CHPWife]

The office must have a demonstrated need that requires the use of the bilingual skill. So some offices may have a language that is not common in the rest of the state.

[cain.vanessa]

we have no need to pay people to be bilingual in every language.

10-4

[Artem]

Bilingual officers who pass the test are paid an extra $100/month.

A Bachelors Degree is an extra 5% of base pay...

I don't mind sharing numbers for a real-world example, it's public after all.

At top-step Officer, with a BS, my gross pay with NO overtime was $74,330 this year.

I get paid $50.42/hour (gross) for overtime... So, I'd need $25,670 in OT to make $100k total. That's 509 hours of OT for the year, or about 42 hours OT every month. Figure you work at least a dozen hours because of incidents that occur at the end of shift / in-custody reports to write, etc... 42 hours/month is doable without even cutting into your days off.
DW, is the bilingual extra pay for Spanish language only?

[Mac]

DW, is the bilingual extra pay for Spanish language only?
No. Bilingual pay is paid to officers who are departmentally certified (through an exam/interview process) as bilingual, and are serving in an area which has a demonstrated need for bilingual officers in that particular tongue. For example, while El Centro would have little/no need for an officer certified in Cantonese, it would be a valuable asset in San Francisco.

Various offices throughout the state have allotted numbers of bilingual positions in specified languages (of which there are several - don't ask me to name them all, because I don't have the answer). If you're departmentally certified as bilingual in one of those languages and working in one of those offices, you receive bilingual pay.


is it any language? I've been taking japanese in college.
No, it is not for any language - it applies to specific languages, in the specific areas where there is a demonstrated need for bilingual speakers of that particular language to better serve that particular community (as stated above). Japanese may be one of them (I'm not sure), but as stated above, you would receive bilingual pay for Japanese only if you were working in an office which had allotted slots for Japanese speakers. The mere fact that one is fluent in an obscure dialect of Hmong only encountered in three small villages in a six-kilometer radius on one bank of the Mekong River does not automatically qualify them to receive bilingual pay.

[e36geoff]

Any idea if German is on that list of bilingual wants? It's a longshot... really big longshot. :noidea:

Most people that speak German speak better English that most native speakers.

[900hpsupra]

No. Bilingual pay is paid to officers who are departmentally certified (through an exam/interview process) as bilingual, and are serving in an area which has a demonstrated need for bilingual officers in that particular tongue. For example, while El Centro would have little/no need for an officer certified in Cantonese, it would be a valuable asset in San Francisco.

Various offices throughout the state have allotted numbers of bilingual positions in specified languages (of which there are several - don't ask me to name them all, because I don't have the answer). If you're departmentally certified as bilingual in one of those languages and working in one of those offices, you receive bilingual pay.



No, it is not for any language - it applies to specific languages, in the specific areas where there is a demonstrated need for bilingual speakers of that particular language to better serve that particular community (as stated above). Japanese may be one of them (I'm not sure), but as stated above, you would receive bilingual pay for Japanese only if you were working in an office which had allotted slots for Japanese speakers. The mere fact that one is fluent in an obscure dialect of Hmong only encountered in three small villages in a six-kilometer radius on one bank of the Mekong River does not automatically qualify them to receive bilingual pay.


MAC, I am curious.. is there any need for Hmong appicants. I speak hmong as well as i do english.:wink:

[Paul B]

See GO 10.7 Annex C pgs 25-31. Based on the 2008-2009 language survey most positions are Spanish speaking and then there is a need for Russian as well. Not sure if there is a more current survey posted somewhere else. Guess folks should take the survey more seriously and not just throw a bunch of hash marks down:doh:

[highwaybs]

........ Guess folks should take the survey more seriously and not just throw a bunch of hash marks down:doh:


And there is the problem....