Pay

[SR-25]

How many of you think the CHP should either get Hazardous duty pay for patrol/SWAT officers? Or maybe they can just raise the CHP pay altogether. What would be the chances of this happening due to the latest tragedies?

[RodeoChippie]

I'm perfectly fine with making more money. Will it happen in this way? Probably not. If my memory serves me correctly, motor officers and air crews are the only ones who get hazardous duty pay. Pay is a bargaining issue so the state isn't going to offer it and I doubt the association would ask for hazardous duty pay for patrol as a result of what has happened in recent months.

[NorCalN00b]

Here's what I think.

I think all Chippes should get a BIG pay raise since it's so freaking expensive in California. This is how I would do it:

Starting base salary of $60,952 (Step 1) to $70,952 (Step 5).
Uniform Allowance = $900
Physical Performance pay for the first five years = $1000
Physical Performance pay after five years = $1700
2 year college degree pay = $145 a/month
4 year college degree pay = $290 a/month
Master's degree pay = $435 a/month
Motorcycle pay = $215 a/month
Spanish Speaking chippes = $125 a/month
M.A.I.T = $100 a/month
Canine Pay = $190 a/month
Shift differental: Swing Shift = Extra $1.50 an/hour Night Shift = Extra $2 an/hour

Oh ya and dump the S&W 4006 and issue every Chippy a SiG Sauer P226 Rail .40S&W w/Surefire x200

[Your Mentor]

Here's the reality: we all get hazardous duty pay. It's called our base salary. It's a hazardous job. Period. There's NO SUCH THING IN CIVILIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT! The additional percentage pilots, paramedics, motor officers, and bilingual officers recieve is SKILL pay. If it was for hazardous duty then paramedics would receive the same bonus as pilots but they don't. [Edited with my apologies]. And the physical performance pay was just tagged on when the program was scrapped. You don't have to do anything for it anymore.

Remember that our base salary is to compensate you for the job we do. Should we receive more? Of course. But we don't, so we deal with it. But remember this one fact; working the road is the most hazardous job there is. You folks are looking at all this from the outside looking in. Once you get inside, the picture looks completely different.

[TheForceCHP]

i am ok with the pay. i agree that it would be nice to receive more pay. but the fact of the matter is that i can't wait to start my future career with the CHP. i only recently started hearing on how we aren't the highest paid LE in the state. i doesn't make a diffrence to me. i will be getting paid more then enough to live off of and i will be doing a job that i love, this is all that matters to me. i have always been raised to get a job that i love whether it pays great or not(though i would hope that i paid good:smile: ) i would rather be happy going to work then be miserable every day

[makakona]

i would rather be happy going to work then be miserable every day

and that's what it comes down to! my husband was a nuclear reactor mechanic and could have pulled down six figures in areas with a lower cost of living. but being able to come home and say, "man, i LOVE my job," well, that's just priceless! we live more modestly than we used to, but it's worth it to have a happy husband and dad come quitting time!

[Chipper]

Mentor wrote: "We have NEVER lost an aircrewman in the line of duty."

Sorry, but you missed this one. Officers Wood and Mccabe on 9/1/78 of Southern Division both died in on an duty Helicopter crash, as did Officers Carey and Archer on 2/24/82 in Barstow in another copter crash.

[Your Mentor]

Chipper, you are right. Actually, as was pointed out to me in a pm, we've lost 8 aircrewman. I totally apologize for my error. So let me restate; we've never lost an aircrew in the seventeen years I've been on. I know that means little. But in line with this thread, let me say that 8 out of 209 fallen officers still equates to the road officer's job being FAR and above more hazardous. My point was that some officers are paid for skills that most officers don't possess, not because of additonal hazards in their assignments. Remember that more officers are killed by traffic than anything else. The past five months is, unfortunately, clearly supports this fact: four out the six were killed by traffic. I have three close friends on the fountain. All three were taken out by DUI drivers. Two others on the fountain were students of mine. At least one friend, who's name won't appear on the fountain, was a suicide. This is a rough job, but hands down, the most hazardous duty is working the road. Motor officers, I bow to you. You guys and gals are injured far more than your car counterparts. I for one will always have a sedan, a push-bumper and an airbag. But then again, I'll likely always be and RP officer.

[Tom]

You guys all saw that! Bow to them! LOL YM

Tom

[Your Mentor]

Same team man. Same team. ;)

[Tom]

I'm with you dude....just funning you.


Tom

[Your Mentor]

Don't let the serious avatar fool you dooder.

[Flying Pig]

The low amount of fatalities of aircrews is a sign of their skill ,competence, training and superior equipment not the lack of risk involved with the missions. Next to combat, SAR and EMS missions are some of the most dangerous types of flying.

[makakona]

The low amount of fatalities of aircrews is a sign of their skill ,competence, training and superior equipment not the lack of risk involved with the missions.

interesting. are you inferring, then, that the higher amount of road officer fatalities is due to lack of skill, competence, training, and equipment?

[Cameron]

I caught no bad inference there... Flying Pig seemed only to be re-affirming the point that CHP Aviation patrols are just as dangerous as road patrol...

[KingFrankSam]

As an officer, obviously I think that it would be great to get paid more. But, like every other officer I know, I did not pick this career for the money. I live comfortably, and my family is happy. I made more money in the private sector before I joined, but I won't go back. The Department would not see a benefit by paying its current uniformed staff a higher wage. Where it would benefit by paying more is in recruiting. It may be difficult for many visitors of this site to believe, but recruiting is a big problem. Our next Academy class starts on monday, and it will be nowhere near the size that we had hoped it to be. We may get an additional 240 uniformed positions in the next budget, but I am not sure that we will find the people to fill them. The economy is good, other jobs are paying more and are not nearly as dangerous. Other agencies are paying more. Our military has many of our potential candidates overseas. There are several factors that are negatively affecting our recruiting effort. A higher salary would offset many of those factors.

[Cameron]

Correction, I meant to say that Aviation patrol can be just as dangerous as road patrol. Pardon me.

[makakona]

As an officer, obviously I think that it would be great to get paid more. But, like every other officer I know, I did not pick this career for the money. I live comfortably, and my family is happy. I made more money in the private sector before I joined, but I won't go back. The Department would not see a benefit by paying its current uniformed staff a higher wage. Where it would benefit by paying more is in recruiting. It may be difficult for many visitors of this site to believe, but recruiting is a big problem. Our next Academy class starts on monday, and it will be nowhere near the size that we had hoped it to be. We may get an additional 240 uniformed positions in the next budget, but I am not sure that we will find the people to fill them. The economy is good, other jobs are paying more and are not nearly as dangerous. Other agencies are paying more. Our military has many of our potential candidates overseas. There are several factors that are negatively affecting our recruiting effort. A higher salary would offset many of those factors.

are you on the road, horatio?

[Cameron]

Horatio, that was a really interesting post. Hmm. I've spoken with a few CHP Officers (not on this forum) and they mentioned that due to various reasons, the whole recruiting process might be speeded up. Have you, or any other Officers, heard something similar?

[KingFrankSam]

As I've posted here previously, the Academy is not keeping up with attrition. Last week we graduated 66 new officers. There are only 60 left in the current class, and they have 10 or 11 weeks left. The Academy is producing about 240 officers a year. The Department is losing around 300 a year to retirements, injuries, resignations, terminations, etc. Top management is beginning to realize that there is a serious problem with those numbers. I would expect that they are exploring ways to improve and expedite the hiring process. Whatever changes are made, we will not allow a lowering of our standards.

[Cameron]

Thanks, Horatio! Did you post that already? Sorry! haha. I think we're up to 6,000 posts on this forum now. It's hard to keep up with/remember all of them. :smile:

[SB 405]

Didn't this last class start with something like 125 cadets?

[Fire1]

I think the personnel and medical review board are some of the biggest to blame. I was ready to go to this class 3 weeks ago, but due to some mistakes made by the medical office where I had the medical done, I was not notified of the problem untill 2 weeks later by snail mail, when all they had to do was call me and the issue could have been correct right there. They sent a letter out on monday (I have not received it yet) saying they need some more information before they could schedule the phych. Now there is probably no chance that I can go to this class, not for any big reasons, but just because they mailed stuff to me instead of a simple phone call. I think this is just a small area in which they could inprove the application process to get more people into academy. I very well could have been a body in this class, but due to ineficiencies in the system, I was passed by. Now I will have to wait 3 more months, find a part time job or something, and waste time till the next class. I agree, there are some things that need to change.

[23109]

Didn't this last class start with something like 125 cadets?

Negative, CTC IV-05 started with 89. From what they told me, they were supposed to have started with 90, but one of them failed to arrive.

[Flying Pig]

Its a silly argument, but I wasnt infering that Motors are incompetent. But next to combat, Law Enforcement is proably #2 with the risks involved. Low altitudes at high speeds, on NVG's making abrupt manuvers, or a night SAR in the Sierra's on NVG's to name a few. EMS missions with off-site confined landings, or enforcement landings, the list goes on.....But again, were all on the same team.