Monday, July 6, 2015

The California Highway Patrol Opens 4-Day Online Application Process

The California Highway Patrol has opened its application period for prospective cadets who will train at the CHP Academy and in two years could count themselves among “California’s finest.”

Applicants are warned beforehand that the current application period lasts just four days only, starting today and lasting until 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 9.

The very first step in applying to be a CHP officer is to go online and create an account on the CHP application site – www.chp.ca.gov/chp-careers. There is no other way.

The entire application process used to take up to two years up cadet appointment, but CHP says changes have been made to lessen the time and make it six to 12 months.

To qualify for paid training as a CHP Academy cadet, an applicant has to go through atesting and evaluation process mandated by state law and the California State Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). The process is composed of seven steps – application acceptance, an initial written exam, physical ability test, interviews by a qualifications appraisal panel, background investigation, a psychological evaluation and medical evaluation.

All phases in the testing and evaluation take place at each of the eight geographical CHP Division areas throughout the state.

When accepted, the applicant attends the CHP Academy as a cadet where he or she gets paid during training, and learns the skills needed to save lives and provide protection to California residents and visitors.

Training at the Academy takes about seven months which includes physical training, high speed and safe driving techniques, weapons training and the vehicle code. Academy cadets are paid up to $5,694 a month and full-fledged officers receive up to $7,720 per month.

CHP officers hold one of the most important and visible jobs in California. A comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage is provided for CHP Officers and their families, with an annual leave program that accumulates with years of service.

CHP currently has 11,000 employees, including 7,500 officers. https://www.chp.ca.gov/