Favorite Offices

[uoplax13]

I know new officers don't have a whole lot of say in which office they get stuck in, but in your guys' minds which ones are the best (for a new officer) or which ones have you enjoyed working out of the most?

[DESERT RAT]

Death Valley is the best! Name one other office where your Sergeant is 110 miles away at all times! Enough said!

[Mac]

Much of the definition of "Best" depends on where you come from and what you're looking for. If you come from the sticks and don't like big towns, the LA or bay area offices are going to seem like an alien nation to you....but you'll get plenty of action. Vice versa if you grew up in the 'hood and end up out in the middle of nowhere.

Personally, having worked both rural and urban offices, I prefer being out in the sticks where I have some room around me and am not in the middle of a huge mass of humanity amidst a concrete jungle. In fact, the further out in the sticks, the happier I am. Working in the city is great when you're young/new and crave that fast pace - it'll keep you plenty busy, you learn fast and the time flies. Some will stay in that environment for their entire careers just because they like the action and the 24/7 "buzz" of city life. Others will do their time and get out as quickly as possible.

One of the beauties of this job is that the choice is yours (after your initial assignment, of course)....if you dig the city, try them all....LA, the bay, San Diego, etc. If you're more of a country boy (or girl), there are plenty of places out in the sticks you can go to. If you try an Area and don't like it, put in your transfer and go somewhere else. I know guys who have worked all over the state - just bounced from place to place until they found what they liked and settled down.

[uoplax13]

So despite growing up in the Bay Area, I'm more of a "sticks" kind of guy. What are some good offices out in the sticks...which ones do you think a brand new officer would have a shot at getting straight out of the academy -- and yes, I know I need to focus on getting there first! Just sent in my PHS today....

[x MAIT]

I've heard of this wonderful office called Winterhaven that is somewhat isolated.:razz:

[retchp]

Upolax
Go to Barstow. It is rural and yet you will deal with every kind of s&*t head known to man since everyone in LA seems to go to Vegas once in awhile. Thus you get to experience a fast paced, yet rural office where you can learn to make your own decisions, but have back up if you need it.
I was always amazed at how good the guys with five years on who worked in metro areas (LA) were at writing accident reports, but how pitiful they were at making decisions like who was dead at an accident scene, who needed to get popped for dui drugs etc., or who needed to get their ass kicked, without a Sgt. standing there to tell them what to do next.
If you work Barstow for three to five years you can work anywhere in the state with no problem. Plus it is easy to get to Barstow as a cadet.

[CHPGuy]

Death Valley is the best! Name one other office where your Sergeant is 110 miles away at all times! Enough said!


Ya, same with your backup!!!

[TheForceCHP]

Upolax
Go to Barstow. It is rural and yet you will deal with every kind of s&*t head known to man since everyone in LA seems to go to Vegas once in awhile. Thus you get to experience a fast paced, yet rural office where you can learn to make your own decisions, but have back up if you need it.
I was always amazed at how good the guys with five years on who worked in metro areas (LA) were at writing accident reports, but how pitiful they were at making decisions like who was dead at an accident scene, who needed to get popped for dui drugs etc., or who needed to get their ass kicked, without a Sgt. standing there to tell them what to do next.
If you work Barstow for three to five years you can work anywhere in the state with no problem. Plus it is easy to get to Barstow as a cadet.

As much as I have never though about going to Barstow, what you just wrote is going to weigh on my mind when the time comes to pick where I might go. Thank you

[uoplax13]

Yea, me too. That post combined with other things I've heard, makes socal seem like it might not be that bad after all. I'd rather stay up in northern california, but at this point, if I am in fact given a spot in the next class, I'll go wherever and be happy with it....well, at least for that first year!

[x MAIT]

My first year on the job assigned to East LA: Handled a solo 6 fatality tc; involved in a shootout with armed robbery suspects; pursuit of armed kidnapping suspects; you name it, I was involved in it my first year. The next 27 were a breeze.:lol:

[uoplax13]

Hopefully the last four of my SSN are high enough to keep me the hell out of LA! I think I could deal with the Bay Area, but LA might be pushing it.......

[yo buddy]

"I hope I stay the hell out of L.A.?" Find a new job if you're not willing to work for the CALIFORNIA Highway Patrol.

[WannaBeaChippie]

Me personally I want Solano County...the fairfield and Vallejo area...there are tons of commuters from the entire bay area...plenty of road space but its small and and you get a variety of stops. If I had a second choice, I'd definitely choose Oakland, I know the area and it seems like it would be lightning paced.

[Mac]

"I hope I stay the hell out of L.A.?" Find a new job if you're not willing to work for the CALIFORNIA Highway Patrol.
Nothin' wrong with wishin'. I'd venture to say there are a LOT of folks with the same wish - not only applicants/candidates, but current officers too! :smile: The way I see it, if ya gotta go, ya gotta go - if you don't like it, do your time and get out....but that doesn't mean everybody WANTS to go to L.A.

[Officer_Grady]

there ain't nothing wrong with going to LA. I did my time and transferred to the office I'm at now. From what I see, the LA officers who transfer have a different beat, it's like they are ready to take care of business. Other officers, even senior ones, who never went to LA try to talk the talk, but they don't impress me. LA is one highway patrol and the officers out in the sticks who's backup is 30 minutes away are the real highway patrolmen.

[BMM]

I didn't particularly want to go to LA either. Central was my 18th choice out of 19. I got Central. I don't regret it one bit. The office is not bad, the people there are great, the experience and different types of activity can't be found anywhere else. Within my first year, I got my 10851 pin, and earned my Deuce award. This year, I qualified for my Deuce award by the end of May. If I stay on graves, I'll more than likely qualify for the centruy award. I've taken 25 11-82 crashes in a single month on B watch, which gave me the experience to write one in twenty minutes or less. I've taken several major griders and a fatality. I've been in more pursuits than I can remember. All this within a year and a half. The overtime is also plentiful $$$$$.

If you want to know what this job is about, LA is the place to find out. Don't mock it until you try it!

[Mac]

If you want to know what this job is about, LA is the place to find out. Don't mock it until you try it!
Fair enough - there's no doubt that you learn to handle a large and fast-paced workload in LA. But don't mock 'country cops' until you've handled a "grinder" deuce-involved 11-79 with lanes blocked on a blind curve on a two-lane county road, all on your own.....set your flares & stabilize the scene, eval & hook the deuce, get your diagram & the horsepower from the other involved parties, clear the lanes, do your 180s, then go book....all by your lonesome. You also learn some different "people skills" dealing with unhappy customers when you know that your closest cover could be 30-45 minutes away.

I've never bought the myth that you HAVE to go to L.A. to be a good cop...you hear it most often from guys who broke in there. I've seen some good troops come from LA offices, but I've seen some real FUBARS, too.....and the same goes with smaller/more rural offices.

[uoplax13]

I think working in LA could be fun and very educational....living there would be something else- that's the northern californian in me. If down the road I am lucky enough to get to the academy, after graduation I will go anywhere they stick me and be happy about it.

[yo buddy]

Uoplax13---"Stay the hell out of LA?" "Anywhere they STICK me?" If you want to serve our citizens and state, then serve. Sounds to me like you're already complaining.......... the chances of you getting the exact area you want are fair at best. You are not being "stuck" with anything. You are signing up with no guarantees. "Anywhere they stick me" is the wrong attitude...

[uoplax13]

If given the privilege to serve, I will gladly go wherever department needs dictate.

[junebughunter]

I think for my first year I'd want something a little more fast paced, but ultimately I'd like somewhere cold with cheap real estate (by California standards)...does that even exist?

What I am doing during the job, I don't care if it's fast paced or slow paced, I can handle both. But I love bad weather.

[23109]

Just off of Break-In and such, so I only have one office (well two, I did a couple phases at a different office) to compare with. I was assigned to an office out in the "sticks" out of the Academy. A couple of my classmates gave me a hard time saying I wouldn't be doing "real police work" out here because it's so isolated.

I'm one duck away from my 10851 pin. All but 2 of those ducks came from my sticks office in first phase.

I'm happy with my current assignment. Back-Up is 15-20 minutes away at times, so my officer safety has to be high and my game has to be as tight as it can get. I've learned that a lot of people come out to the sticks to "hide".

I talked with my roommate who was assigned to a large city office, and our activity was pretty much compareable.

Also, I'm not a "slave to the radio" which means I can be as proactive as I want to be!

[Mac]

Just off of Break-In and such, so I only have one office (well two, I did a couple phases at a different office) to compare with. I was assigned to an office out in the "sticks" out of the Academy. A couple of my classmates gave me a hard time saying I wouldn't be doing "real police work" out here because it's so isolated.

I'm one duck away from my 10851 pin. All but 2 of those ducks came from my sticks office in first phase.

I'm happy with my current assignment. Back-Up is 15-20 minutes away at times, so my officer safety has to be high and my game has to be as tight as it can get. I've learned that a lot of people come out to the sticks to "hide".

I talked with my roommate who was assigned to a large city office, and our activity was pretty much compareable.

Also, I'm not a "slave to the radio" which means I can be as proactive as I want to be!
All good points. EXACTLY what I'm talkin' about! The big city is different, but it's not the "be all and end all" of police work. If you happen to end up in L.A., then so be it....you'll learn quick and be buried in calls most of the time. But on the other hand, don't let the city boys shame you because your "CHP roots" aren't somewhere in that crime-infested, traffic-choked hell hole.

For the record, I've worked in L.A. - had fun, but can't say I like the city very much (as if you couldn't tell from the previous sentence!) Once was more than enough for me - if I never have to go back there again it'll be too soon!

[Officer_Grady]

Mac, whats a FUBAR? I'd heard of FOOs. In regards to the sticks and two lane county roads and curves, CDF told me to put the flares on the double yellows to make people slow down. i'm use to the taper and moving people over. It worked.

[SB 405]

FUBAR = f***ed up beyond all repair. An old military term.

[Mac]

FUBAR = f***ed up beyond all repair. An old military term.
That's the one!

[Officer_Grady]

thanks 405, I use to see one or two in my office, now there's about seven to ten.

[SB 405]

Dear old Dad shared many a FUBAR stories from his WWll days.

[stump1860]

Just so I can follow what is being said, what is a 10851 pin?

[Kevin]

The California vehicle code (CVC for short) contains tens of thousands of laws, rules and regulations. Highway Patrol Officers will quite often refer to a specific law by its CVC number rather than by its *given* name. CVC section number 10851 is titled: *Theft and Unlawful Taking or Driving of a Vehicle.* You can see why we call it 10851 (pronounced: *ten-eight-five-one*)! It is also referred to as auto theft, vehicle theft, grand theft auto, *a stolen*, and a few other slang terms.

The recovery of stolen vehicles in one of the many things that CHP Officers do on a regular basis. More vehicles are stolen in Los Angeles County than in many other States. Fortunately for the motoring public, the vast majority of those vehicles are later found and returned to their rightful owners. To recognize the efforts of those CHP Officers whose skill in finding 10851s is especially outstanding, the CHP established a special award. This award, which has been copied by many other California Law Enforcement Agencies, is called the *10851 pin.*

There are several different levels of the award; but, they all look somewhat like a California license plate with the numbers 10851 on it. The award is worn on an Officer*s right breast pocket. To win *the coveted 10851 pin,* as it is called by the CHP brass, an Officer must show their proficiency is finding stolen vehicles. This is done in one of two ways. Within a twelve month period, an Officer must detect, stop and capture six different stolen vehicles and their respective drivers. A stolen vehicle which is being operated by a crook is called a *rolling stolen.* The other method to win this award is for an Officer to arrest at least three operators of *rolling stolens* with their stolen vehicle, and to also find enough abandoned stolen vehicles to bring the total number of recovered vehicles to an even dozen.

Each time an Officer reaches this level of achievement, they are given another award. When they have accomplished this difficult task five times, they are given the *Master 10851* pin. This pin has a different color combination than the standard 10851 pin. For those truly rare Officers who mange to win the 10851 pin twenty-five times, they receive the *Master Master 10851* pin. This pin has a slightly different design than the other pins.

Some Officers can go an entire career without earning a pin. An Officer working in certain parts of the major metropolitan areas of California is much more likely to encounter 10851s than an officer working in an out-of-the-way, rural location. Don*t count the *back-country* Officers out of the picture, though. A sharp eye, and an inquiring nature can locate stolen vehicles wherever they might be.

So, the next time you see an officer with a *10851* pin on their uniform, you*ll know how they got it, and you can congratulate them for their special skills and efforts.

[dw]

I don't understand, Kev -- how could we possibly recover stolen vehicles while changing tires all day? ;)

[bcjack]

DW:
The tires being changed are on the stolen cars?????:badgrin:

[Kevin]

DW:
The tires being changed are on the stolen cars?????:badgrin:

You beat me to it, you took the words right out of my mouth! :lol: Even the 851's have flat tires you know. :razz:

[x MAIT]

For those interested, there are 9 different 10851 pins. For the first award it is plain white, then for numbers 2 through 4, they have a ribbon underneath with the corresponding Roman Numeral. The "first" master pin (fifth 10851 award) is plain blue. After that, you receive pins when you reach the 2nd master (10 times) through 4th master (20 times). These blue pins have the attached ribbon with the corresponding Roman Numeral. When you reach 25 times, you receive the gold master, a gold pin with a ribbon and blue stone.

Before this 9 pin program started in 1995, the department issued only two pins; a blue pin for the first award, and a gold pin for the fifth (master) award. I ran the pin program in LA county from 95 until I retired (all the spare time I had while working MAIT). I used to recover a lot of stolens when I worked ELA, and wanted to stay involved in the program even if I wasn't working the road. I did turn up a VIN switch on one of my MAIT cases.:biggrin:

Another way to receive a pin besides the two ways already mentioned is to develop information that leads to an auto theft ring. The info must lead to at least 2 arrests and 10 recoveries.

[dlg2k6]

The California vehicle code (CVC for short) contains tens of thousands of laws, rules and regulations. Highway Patrol Officers will quite often refer to a specific law by its CVC number rather than by its *given* name. CVC section number 10851 is titled: *Theft and Unlawful Taking or Driving of a Vehicle.* You can see why we call it 10851 (pronounced: *ten-eight-five-one*)! It is also referred to as auto theft, vehicle theft, grand theft auto, *a stolen*, and a few other slang terms.

The recovery of stolen vehicles in one of the many things that CHP Officers do on a regular basis. More vehicles are stolen in Los Angeles County than in many other States. Fortunately for the motoring public, the vast majority of those vehicles are later found and returned to their rightful owners. To recognize the efforts of those CHP Officers whose skill in finding 10851s is especially outstanding, the CHP established a special award. This award, which has been copied by many other California Law Enforcement Agencies, is called the *10851 pin.*

There are several different levels of the award; but, they all look somewhat like a California license plate with the numbers 10851 on it. The award is worn on an Officer*s right breast pocket. To win *the coveted 10851 pin,* as it is called by the CHP brass, an Officer must show their proficiency is finding stolen vehicles. This is done in one of two ways. Within a twelve month period, an Officer must detect, stop and capture six different stolen vehicles and their respective drivers. A stolen vehicle which is being operated by a crook is called a *rolling stolen.* The other method to win this award is for an Officer to arrest at least three operators of *rolling stolens* with their stolen vehicle, and to also find enough abandoned stolen vehicles to bring the total number of recovered vehicles to an even dozen.

Each time an Officer reaches this level of achievement, they are given another award. When they have accomplished this difficult task five times, they are given the *Master 10851* pin. This pin has a different color combination than the standard 10851 pin. For those truly rare Officers who mange to win the 10851 pin twenty-five times, they receive the *Master Master 10851* pin. This pin has a slightly different design than the other pins.

Some Officers can go an entire career without earning a pin. An Officer working in certain parts of the major metropolitan areas of California is much more likely to encounter 10851s than an officer working in an out-of-the-way, rural location. Don*t count the *back-country* Officers out of the picture, though. A sharp eye, and an inquiring nature can locate stolen vehicles wherever they might be.

So, the next time you see an officer with a *10851* pin on their uniform, you*ll know how they got it, and you can congratulate them for their special skills and efforts.


Wow...that's very interesting. I know this is an old thread but I was bored and couldn't sleep so I was just skimming through some of this older stuff. Thanks for so much detail Kevin. Are there any other awards or pins similiar to these given to officers for performance, etc...?

[CQB110]

Well I was going to post about the original persons question. But now I see this topic is way off topic :confused: . So disregard this post and sorry for digging it up. At least dlg2k6 dug it up before me :razz:

[bg17067]

Death Valley is the best! Name one other office where your Sergeant is 110 miles away at all times! Enough said!

And people wonder about the perks of Resident Posts! :smile: Desert Rat...any openings down there anytime soon?

[Bigmatt]

I broke in in ELA. Fun for singles; bummer to raise a family. Spent almost 10 years in Needles....then a Resident Post. Best location in the entire state in my opinion; including NoCal where I retired from.