placement question?

[gofly]

what are the chances of an officer coming out of the academy and NOT getting the Los Angeles area if that is where they wanted to go?

[Capsicum]

I would think that it would be a good chance that if you asked for an LA office you would get one. South, West, Central and East LA all regularly take a bunch of cadets. Its the places that only take 1 or 2 per class that are usually hard to get into.

[dw]

It happens... The lowest Officers in my class were assigned to San Jose and Redwood City. (I can think of several who wanted to be in LA -- anywhere in LA.) It all depends on the assignment criteria, which is described in another thread here. If you have a low social security number, you may well end up in the Bay Area.

[Your Mentor]

That is the saddest part of the assignment process. We routinely have classes where several people go to the Bay Area who want LA and, in the same class, several people go to LA who want the Bay Area. The sad part is that they can't swap once the list is released. That happened in my class and several of the classes I taught. I'm not sure how it happened since everyone is supposed to list the Areas in the order they want them. I scratch my head at that every time. Even if Uniform Transfers were to make a mistake, and it has happened, they won't change the orders after the list comes out. I've never figured out the reasoning behind that rigidity. My old graveyard partner owned a home in an offered area but Uniform Transfers failed to consider it. He had to take Blythe while someone else went to his home town. As it turned out, the guy who went to his hometown wanted Blythe! On paper, by numbers, and the rules, they should have been assigned opposite to their actual assignments. They brought it to the attention of the Academy commander and were told it was too late, live with it. My buddy had to sell his house, blah, blah, blah. I know that's not very reassuring but it is a fact.:neutral:

[HwyChaser]

My old graveyard partner owned a home in an offered area but Uniform Transfers failed to consider it. He had to take Blythe while someone else went to his home town. As it turned out, the guy who went to his hometown wanted Blythe! On paper, by numbers, and the rules, they should have been assigned opposite to their actual assignments. They brought it to the attention of the Academy commander and were told it was too late, live with it. My buddy had to sell his house, blah, blah, blah. I know that's not very reassuring but it is a fact.:neutral:

The exact same thing happened to me. I was the only one who owned a home, was married and had kids in school within 60 minutes of a particular office. Just a couple of years prior to attending the academy I bought some property and built a home in a county area. Because the house was only a couple of years old and not located in town, my address was not on mapquest.com. Even though Uniform Transfers had the title to my house it still was not considered. This office took 3 cadets, none owned homes and only 1 was married. I was sent 300 miles south, my wife and kids stayed home. It took 2 years to get home and I was lucky to get home that fast.

This has happened to quite a few academy graduates (Officers), not just me. As Your Mentor said "they won't change the orders". Believe me, I tried to get them changed.

[Nellie]

Does MapQuest have a lot to do with it?

I know I can get sent anywhere, but according to MapQuest, I live the following distances from these offices:

San Jose: 50 minutes
Salinas: 26 minutes
Santa Cruz: 32 minutes
Gilroy: 18 minutes
Los Banos: 57 minutes
Redwood city is 1 hour and 8 minutes.

It should be interesting! If I do get into the academy, and then get sent to L.A. instead of the BA, what outlying areas would you guys recommend to live? My wife has some family in Hesperia, which is just a little over an hour plus away from L.A. (without traffic). :lol:

[Your Mentor]

I doubt it, but I really don't know. I do know that when my old graveyard partner graduated, and I'm dating myself because I was about a year and a half ahead of him, there was no such thing as mapquest.:neutral:

[HwyChaser]

I went through about 4 ? years ago. At that time they supposedly changed policy and only use mapquest.com now. I?m sure they still use it. Correct me if I?m wrong but they used to send a unit to your home from the office to confirm the distance. That?s not the case anymore. The fact they began using mapquest about the time I went through was a BIG DEAL. A lot of folks got rolled due to the new policy.

[Your Mentor]

That's very disappointing to hear. The big push is to automate information flow and obviously this takes the person and their concerns out of the equation. Not to mention, Mapquest really sucks. I used it when I had to travel to teach DRE and SFST classes to allied agencies. I always ended up buying a local map in a gas station once I reached my destination (and found myself horribly lost). You'd think they'd use Microsoft Streets and Trips. Of course that would cost money.

[Nellie]

Try http://maps.google.com.

This is my favorite map site.

[redhead]

Try http://maps.google.com.

This is my favorite map site.Agree!


As well, I am like you Nellie, and hope to (after everything else) make it back to the BA. I would not mind working any of the offices listed, but in the same breath am ready to go anywhere. My social is super low, think 06**, so if they still use that and since I am single and have not bought my dream 600k condo in the Bay Area, I am prepared to move. Oh, and I am 11 miles from SJ as I sit.

[K-Lo]

I heard from a recruiter years ago that if it comes down to social security numbers, that the highest number gets first dibs. I was happy to hear that since mine starts with a 9. I own a home now so I don't know if I will even get to that point. I am so excited and pumped about this career that I will sell and move if I have to. I hope not, but I will if need be.

From what I have been seeing lately, it is the lowest 4 digits that is higher priority. Has the social security selection changed from highest to lowest?

I have also heard that it varies from class to class as to whether it is high or low number. I have heard different things so I figured I would as the people in the know.

[redhead]

it is the lowest 4 digits that is higher priority. Has the social security selection changed from highest to lowest?
If (/When) I get to that point, I hope it is that way!!!!!!


Best of luck to you K-Lo

[K-Lo]

Best of luck to you K-Lo


Same to you Redhead. I see that you are online now also. I should be in bed.

Thanks again for all of your help.

[Capsicum]

Lately it has been the Highest social to the Lowest. 9999 down to 0000.

[redhead]

Lately it has been the Highest social to the Lowest. 9999 down to 0000.Ugh....Where I end up, I dont care, but home towns are always nice to fall back on...........................

[Your Mentor]

It has been from highest to lowest for a very long time and will be for a long time to come. It's sort of a tradition no one wants to mess with. The theory behind such a placement method, or so "they" say, is to keep academically challenged rookies from collecting in the same offices. There was apparently a fear, many years ago, that if you gave out assignments based on academic standing (or your badge number which would essentially be the same since badge numbers are given out based on academic standing) then all your high scorers would somehow get cherry assignments and leave the metro areas for people who don't do as well in the class standings. The reality is that more people are recruited from metro areas and many want to stay at home too. And besides, so called cherry assignments are far and few when leaving the Academy. The sad thing is that after your rookie year (probation) you can put in for a transfer and then it's all based on seniority and that's when your class standing kicks in. Frankly, I think assignments should be based on class standing from the start since it ultimately determines your seniority in the field. There may have been a need to reduce competitiveness among cadets at some point as well but I'm just guessing. Team work is so incredibly important in the Academy and the staff there does everything to promote it. I think it's interesting to see how each company has its own collective personality.

The social security number gig has cost this Department some very good officers. I know several who did incredibly well academically and physically in the Academy and who had loads of common sense. Yet they had those super low numbers that sent them to places they just didn't want to go. I know, I know; they obviously didn't want it bad enough. That's probably true too. But the key to any great organization is finding talent and then KEEPING that talent. Those individuals I'm talking about might have transfered all over the place later in their careers but after being saturated with CHP for 6 months, moving to an alien city, going through the monumental stress of break-in while trying to adjust to a new home town, and then trying to maintain ties to their real home, I can't blame them. One of my classmates was from the Bay Area and was assigned to LA. There were tons of Bay Area slots offered but her social started 00**. She was doomed and she knew it because most of our class was from N. Ca. She quit two months after break in. She was in the top 20 academically and won the Most Inspirational Cadet award. She'd been a paramedic before the Academy and definitely had what it took. But LA was like walking on Mars to her. Too bad; it was a loss to the CHP.

I think this is why prior military people do so well on this Department. We became used to moving from base to base; leaving familiar surroundings and starting all over again every couple of years. I walked off a base one day and onto the Academy grounds the next - literally. My wife hopped on a plane to Salt Lake City to stay with her sister and I buckled down to studying, driving, and shooting. I only saw my wife four times while I was in the Academy and there were no cell phones. We had both been in the service and it didn't seem to bother either of us. I'm NOT saying we didn't miss each other. But we had accepted the situation from the start. We were both tired of moving around and figured we could do it for a couple more years if it meant finally settling down. Things didn't play out that way but that's another story entirely. :cry:

[Welpe]

YM thanks yet again for more good information to chew on. Placement seems to be the one of the largest things that I personally have to weigh when considering a career with the CHP. My girlfriend (of almost 6 years!) has told me that we can make it work out, so the support is their but who knows if that will remain when the chips are down (no pun intended!).

[HwyChaser]

Your Mentor wrote: "LA was like walking on Mars to her."

Oh man, that is exactly what it felt like for me. I'm a small town/country boy and was sent to L.A. for 2 years. Even my last day there, I would look at those tall buildings, the Hollywood sign, 5 to 6 lane freeways and ask myself "How in the HELL did I end up here?". I have a lot of stroies to tell my kids now.

[Your Mentor]

And I'm sure you really appreciate the Central Valley now HwyChaser. But you learned more in a shorter period of time than you would have had you gone somewhere else. You also earned my, along with many others, well-deserved respect.

[K-Lo]

Great insight Your Mentor.

I had a conversation about this last night with my RA officer. I told him that it would be cool to be able to keep my home (since I couldn't afford a new one with today's market) but I would be willing to sell and move if that is what it takes.