PLEASE HELP- CHP job vs. Sheriff Department

[Blind Sniper]

I hope this is the right place to post this. I am in a quandry. :noidea: Can any of the officers on this forum help me. What is the CHP job like in the field vs. what a Sheriff deputy encounters on a daily basis. I'm sure that you have some exposure to other agencies on the beat.

Here is a little bit about my situation. I am agressively pursuing a career in Law Enforcement. CHP has always been my first choice. I applied initially at CHP and at Alameda County S.O. a few months ago. I am in backgrounds with A.C.S.D. and I am waiting for my QAP results from CHP- it is going on 4 weeks now.... UGH!:cry: Is the pay that much different? Are the jobs that much different?

The other agency says they are more diverse and have a lot more jobs. Jail, SWAT, Courts, Coroner, Boats, Patrol, Detective, Narcotics, etc.

I know the basic job of a CHP officer reading online and talking to my recruiter. I even did a GREAT ride along in the CHP North Sac. office. What is the CHP job like on the beat?

I don't want to sound ingnorant, I am just uninformed. I want to make the bet choice possible for me and my family. This is a CHP Forum so I'm sure I will get alot of good information.

Hopefully I will be in the CHP October academy. The A.C.S.D. academy starts in October as well.:doubt:

Thanks in advance everyone!

[Your Mentor]

This topic has been tabled several times I believe. Utilize the forum search engine and you should find a couple of threads.

[Chippler]

With Alameda you can expect to work the jail for 2-3 years before even hitting the road.

[PapaBear]

I spent 26 years with the CHP after working for a city PD for three years. In my opinion the CHP is by far the better agency for diversity of geographics; beat assignments; supervisory responsibilities; independant officer initiative and camaraderie. The CHP allows its officers to make decisions without immediate supervision - not so in other agencies. They allow you a certain freedom - not permitted by other agencies - to work areas of diverse economic values, community values, openess, unfettered regions, etc. You can work mountains, deserts, cities, coastal, forest and farm regions without having to change agencies. The pay, although not at the top of the market scale, is nominal; the working conditions favorable and the opportunity to promote viable.

My recommendation is that you evaluate each agency on paper; talk to various officers at each agency - one-on-one; and, compare that data to what you feel your needs are. Remember, most agencies in CA model their retirement programs after the CHP as well as other benefits.

Good luck to you in your endeavors and career choice.

[10-7]

The grass is always greener...so the saying goes. We've had NUMEROUS officers leave the CHP only for the majority to return (one in my office has left twice and come back twice, or at least that's what I've heard). Kinda tells you something. All in all, you're going to find MOST CHP folks don't regret their careers with the state.

[westcoast25]

It is a tough decesion that you are going to have to make for yourself. I work in Alameda County and the SO is a good group of guys. I have been w/ the CHP for 5 years now and I love it, but if I had it to do all over again I might go w/ a PD. The only bad thing about the SO is the jail time and getting on patrol can be tough. I have heard it is up to 5 years. in some cases.. If you ever want to leave the bay area though and still make good money, I would say CHP for sure.

[x MAIT]

30 years working only in Alameda County, or 30 years working anywhere in California your seniority will take you.

From the Academy to working the jail for 2 to 5 years, or from the Academy to the road.

Besides the hot calls, responding to alarms, family fights, barking dogs, ...., or besides handling your traffic calls, deciding what you want to focus on for the day such as cites, dueces, stolens, drugs, coffee, ...

If you go with the CHP and change your mind, the SO will probably take you on a lateral. If you go with the SO and change your mind, you will still have to go through the entire CHP Academy.

Good Luck!

[Mac]

Most of us have a LOT of exposure to allied agencies on the beat. We work side by side with them, cover each other on calls, eat meals at the same places, and even socialize off-duty.

Both jobs have their advantages and disadvantages. Working patrol, you'll deal with a lot more "general" crime on a PD or SO (domestic violence, parties, bar checks, curfew sweeps, robbery/burglary reports, etc.), whereas patrol on the CHP is more traffic oriented (VC violations, collisions, DUI enforcement, motorist services). However, a lot of that depends on the area you work - in some of the more rural counties the local agencies are spread very thin and CHP responds to and/or covers them on a lot of their calls. When I worked in LA, there was plenty of "general" enforcement if that was your bag - guys made a lot of righteous pinches for DVD/CD piracy, warrants, lots of dope, lots of guns, etc. IMO, the big difference is that your activity is more "radio-generated" on a PD/SO, whereas you have more time (and latitude) to do "self-generated" activity with the CHP.

"Jail time" has become less of an issue (at least with the bigger SO's), as many of them have started staffing their jails with Correctional Deputies. It used to be that you were looking at several years of working in the jail before you hit the streets - maybe some of them are still that way, but not like it used to be. If you don't dig the thought of working in a jail for several years, that would be a good thing to inquire about before making your decision.

Moving beyond patrol, there are a lot of opportunities within a PD/SO for investigative positions - i.e., detectives specializing in robbery, vice, homicide, auto theft, computer crime, etc. CHP also has investigative positions, participates in multi-agency task forces, etc., but there are less of the "detective" type positions (as compared to a large PD/SO, anyways) and they're highly coveted. I won't go into every "special duty" position within the CHP - you can find a lot of that on the CHP website - but the positions are there if you have the inclination and work hard to qualify yourself and forge the right connections. Air Ops, K-9, Dignitary Protection, Investigator, etc., etc. Agencies who argue that they have more opportunities and more diversity than the CHP often aren't aware of all the different positions we have. We DO have a SWAT team (in Sacramento), the Judicial Protection guys work the courts (along with protecting the judges). There are also various special duty positions available in each Area Office (Court Officer, Felony follow-up Officer, Public Affairs Officer, Accident Investigation Review Officer, etc.).

IMO, probably the biggest advantage the CHP has to offer is the freedom. If you go to LA or the Bay Area as a rookie and really dig the fast pace and diversity of activity, that's cool.....if you decide you want a change of pace, or would like to raise your children somewhere else or go live out in the sticks or whatever, you can put in a transfer and go anywhere in the state. With a PD/SO, this would mean a lateral transfer, going through the hiring process with another agency, starting all over with zero seniority and having to learn your new agency's policies, possibly taking a pay cut (especially if you go to a more rural agency), etc. With the CHP you report in wearing the same uniform with your seniority fully intact, same pay grade, same policies, same equipment, basically the same everything. Say you stay for six months and decide it's really not for you....fine. Put in a transfer and go back to where you came from, or try somewhere else in the state. Go work in the mountains.....try the desert....southern Cal....northern Cal....the central valley.....the coast....big city....small town....boondocks....hell, try a resident post in the middle of nowhere, where your commute is twenty steps from your front door! Don't like it? Put in another transfer and try again! There are officers who have bounced all over the state, and there are others who have never left the office they reported to out of the Academy.

Pay and benefits with the CHP are at least comparable to pretty much any agency in the state, and I daresay better than the majority of them. Alternate work week (4/10, 3/12) isn't a reality yet, but could be in the not-so-distant future.

Any law enforcement agency you go to work for is going to have its good points and bad points. There are a lot of Deputies and PD Officers who have no interest whatsoever in working primarily traffic and would probably hate the job of a CHP Officer. There are a lot of CHP Officers who have no interest in handling the kind of calls the PD/SO handles, and would most likely be miserable there. Different strokes for different folks - neither is right or wrong.

The bottom line is that you have to weigh everything and come to a conclusion. Consider which type of patrol work trips your trigger. Think about what kind of investigative position (if any) you'd like to work - if you have a burning desire to be a homicide detective, CHP is not the right path. Consider the freedom....if you're a hometown boy who wants to work and live in one city/town for the rest of your career, then it's not as much of an issue for you. If you think maybe you'd like to move around a bit, it's a big plus. Compare the pay scales, benefits, retirement plan, etc. It's definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision, it takes a lot of thought and research if you're really torn between them. From a personal perspective, I can only offer that I never considered nor applied to any other agency than CHP. Almost twenty-five years later, I can honestly and without hesitation say that I have never regretted my decision. I'm sure many PD Officers and SO Deputies can say the same.

[GoFasterDammit]

Judging by your location, I assume you might be talking about Sac SO. I know that you will spend 3-5 or more years in the jail, its a fact.

CHP: 6 month academy then on the road :cool:
SO: 6 month academy, then 5 years in the jail :hitwall:

[mike2005]

I certainly understand your point of view. I shared it when I first joined with a large SO as well. However, there are a few positives to custody time (well maybe a coupla years...5+ IS a bit excessive) I'd like to point out:

1.- You learn a lot of valuable intel in custody. You learn exactly who the criminals are, how they walk/talk/operate, and how they scheme/scam/and flim-flam. That is a very valuable education that takes many years to get on the street. I was 1-2 years in the jails when I was off-duty and drove past a very obvious green/rookie/boot from LAPD on a subject stop in the McArthur Park area. It was obvious he didn't know who he was dealing with on the subject stop as his tactics were poor, his officer-safety was poor, and he was letting the subject control the detention. I could immediately tell, that he was dealing with an MS-13 veterano. The LAPD officer had no idea that the only reason he was still alive that day is because the MS-13 pachuco let him continue living. I thanked God that day for the custody experience the jails provided me.

On other occasions I've had the opportunity to talk two or three-on-one with high ranking Mexican Mafia members. I learned how they separate professionalism and personal offenses. I learned how they work the CJ system, how they get court orders for transfer to local jails from prison in order to facilitate meetings, hits, messages, and visits from family. That is a kind of sophistication I would not have learned as a direct-to-the-streets deputy without 5 or 10 years of experience under my belt.

2.- Jails provide an incubating ground. For young cops (under 25 or 30), the jails are an outstanding place to learn how to control and direct people, hone survival tactics, get into (or better yet, how to get out of) fights, master concepts of reasonable-suspicion-to-detain and probable-cause-to-arrest, and just plain mature into full adults. Additionally, the lessons casually taught by Seniors, Sergeants, and deputies returned to the jail from patrol (or working overtime) via war stories and advice that is current and relevant is invaluable in making one a better patrol deputy.

Just as one should never take a puppy away from its mother and litter before 8 weeks, and the longer with the litter the more socialized and better a dog the puppy becomes, the same is true with a new academy graduate deputy. The longer (up to 2 yrs, IMHO - After that the experience is repetitive and actually tends to feed a negative us v. them mentality) the deputy spends in the controlled environment of a jail, the better street cop they become.

3.- Jails provide a stable structure. For newly married or new parent deputies, the jails provide regular days off with very little unexpected overtime. The chances to get to a more desirable shift and more desirable days off increase as your seniority increases. For those who are finishing a college degree or pursuing promotability the name-recognition you get from working with so many peers in a relatively short amount of time helps you establish a reputation within the Department much more quickly (provided your reputation is good- you're hard working, competent, capable, and not socially retarded). You can also more easily attend training you desire, and you can more easily get into positions that broaden your skills and knowledge (such as working gangs in the jails, working admin or special project spots, working jail-investigations, etc).

Finally, the custody environment is helpful in a young deputy's life because of the often amazing amount of very easy overtime available. You can work many, many shifts of overtime ('work' is a relative term when you are simply baby-sitting sleeping inmates) and can bank all that you can to start your adult life. Money for a down payment on a house, money to pay back college loans, money to start a new child's college fund so it has the maximum years of return-on-investment growth before your kid is 18, etc.

While I agree that few go into this line of work to fulfill the lifelong dream of being a jailer (cough-coughhttp://forums.officer.com/forums/images/smile.gif), I have to tell you that IMHO, especially looking back on it, those years in the jail were invaluable and I'm very glad to have had them, just as I hated going to college, but looking back those years were invaluable and I'm glad I had them.

[gabriel]

As a side point, I would think that if in fact working jails is a good training tool--at least in the sense of knowing how criminals behave--someone from the jails should develop a training program for future cops. Perhaps teach them things that could save their lives and the lives of individuals such as that LAPD officer you reference in your story.

[q4star]

I worked in a Sheriff's Dept for almost six years before I left for a Bay Area Police Department (SFPD). I was 22 years old when I worked in the jail and it matured me and taught me valuable lessons on how to communicate with criminals. I also learned there ways of communication and it helped me out when I hit patrol.

I didn't care for working in the jails when I was there but looking back at it now, (12yrs later) it was a valuable experience. I bring those I train in FTO to the jail for a tour to give them an idea of what it is like.