Numbers have dropped from a decade ago
Gilroy – Fewer officers patrol South County highways today than 10 years ago, though Gilroy’s population has increased by 33 percent. Stagnant hiring has stretched the California Highway Patrol’s staff, said Officer Chris Armstrong: at times, only four people patrol area highways.
Technically, 35 officers are assigned to the California Highway Patrol (CHP) Hollister-Gilroy office. But with two retired, two transferring, and four taking on responsibilities off the highway – public information, courts, training and account review – the real number stands at 27, said Armstrong.
“That’s just not enough,” Armstrong said, gazing at a photo board of CHP officers, arrayed in neat rows like a high school yearbook.
Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allocated funds for 510 CHP cadets. With 270 positions previously held vacant, the hires will expand the patrol statewide by 240 officers: the first increase in nearly 40 years that wasn’t saddled to a specific program, a Schwarzenegger press release stated.
But Armstrong isn’t expecting many of those recruits to drift towards Gilroy. The Hollister-Gilroy office shares new hires with the entire Coastal Division, from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz, and higher-fatality regions get priority, he said. Hollister-Gilroy is a relatively tranquil area, and when it comes to the highway patrol, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Overall, the CHP has grown only 16 percent in 37 years, according to numbers given by Armstrong. With 30 officers retiring or transferring out of the state patrol every month, CHP needs all the fresh blood it can get. But budget cuts have sometimes stopped CHP’s Sacramento academy from training new recruits – twice in the past decade, Armstrong said.
The academy, ironically, is both a source and weeding-ground for potential officers. Only one in 140 applicants qualifies for and completes CHP academy, said Armstrong, a rigorous six-month training often compared to Marine boot camp. Seventeen people have dropped out in the past two weeks, whittling the next graduating class down to 162. The previous class numbered 49 officers by graduation day.
“A lot of people aren’t fully aware of what they’re getting into,” said Armstrong.
Others don’t even get in the door. Restrictive background checks stop some would-be patrollers in their tracks, those with felony convictions or histories of drug use. The CHP’s standards haven’t changed, but more and more applicants aren’t able to meet them. Armstrong said the patrol hasn’t considered slackening those standards – and he’d hate to see it happen
