California Highway Patrol
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The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is the state police force of California, originally a highway patrol agency created in 1929 to ensure road safety in California, it assumed greater responsibility as time went on. It now protects state buildings and facilities, conducts criminal investigations and assists local law enforcement agencies.
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Highway Patrol Duties
The agency patrols all state-maintained highways, including all freeways. Its officers enforce the provisions of the California Vehicle Code (especially the prohibition on speeding), pursue fugitives spotted on the highways, and attend to all significant obstructions. They patrol in Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, motorcycles, and helicopters.
CHP officers are responsible for investigating and disposing of car accidents, debris, dead animals, and anything else that may be impeding the free flow of traffic. They are often the first government agents at the scene of an accident (or other obstruction), and in turn summon paramedics, tow truck drivers, or Caltrans personnel as required.
CHP officers often run what are known as traffic breaks to enable other officers ahead to clean up accidents or obstructions safely. This is done by the officer activating his unit's rear or overhead flashing lights, waiting for surrounding traffic to drop back, and then swerving violently back and forth across all lanes of the freeway to gently force the traffic behind him to an eventual stop. Traffic breaks can be a frightening sight for out-of-state visitors or children who have never seen them before.
Special responsibilities
The CHP also publishes data on traffic accidents in California from a database called SWITRS (Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System).
After the September 11, 2001 attacks the CHP became responsible for securing and patrolling all suspected terrorist targets in the State of California. These sites include the Bay Bridge, nuclear power plants, government buildings, and key infrastructure sites. They also maintain a SWAT team on 24 hour stand-by to respond to any terrorist activity.
Traditions
CHP uniforms are traditionally beige-colored, and the cars are in the traditional black and white.
Like any statewide law enforcement agency, the CHP has developed certain colorful traditions such as its own system of radio codes widely adopted by local agencies. The most important is 11-99 (officer needs emergency assistance or officer down).
In 1981, a charitable foundation (the 11-99 Foundation) was founded to provide benefits and scholarships to officers and their families. The foundation makes custom license plate frames which are often seen on the personal vehicles of CHP officers (and their families).
History
The darkest day in the patrol's history was April 6, 1970, when four CHP officers were ambushed and gunned down in less than five minutes in Newhall, California. Officers of the CHP stopped two suspects for a simple road rage incident. These men had in fact trained to shoot it out with law enforcement and were ready to go. Up until that time, officers were more concerned with such things as a clean uniform and recovering the spent brass cases from the ammunition they use. The gunmen shot one officer while he was reloading his revolver one round at a time by hand rather than using a speedloader that loaded all six rounds at once. The gunman was quoted as saying "I got you now" as he pulled the trigger. Another officer had six spent cases in his back left trouser pocket. As per CHP regulations to keep the practice range clean of used casings, officers were required to place spent cases in that pocket during pistol training.
The tragic loss at Newhall led to major reforms in training procedures. The Newhall Incident has since become an important part of the training of all law enforcement officers. It was the beginning of the term "Officer safety" (i.e. "You will train how you will fight as you will fight how you train.")
On July 12, 1995, the California State Police was merged into the CHP, thus greatly expanding the agency's mandate. In addition to safety on the state's roads, it is now responsible for the safety of all state elected officials and all people who work in or are utilizing a state building in California, such as the State Capital Building in Sacramento.
Media references
CHiPs was a fictional television drama show of the 1970s about the CHP, and the CHP also helped out in the 1955 TV show Highway Patrol starring Broderick Crawford.
External links
- California Highway Patrol Official Website (http://www.chp.ca.gov/)
- CHP Traffic Incident Information Page (http://cad.chp.ca.gov/)