[Osiris]

Actually, the skill level is fairly high. The CHP academy is around 7 months long. Training is similar to boot camp. They train physically, high speed and safe driving techniques, weapons training, and of course they have to learn the vehicle code (it's a LOT bigger than you might think), and how to write reports. Getting into the academy is fairly difficult, and many cadets washout before finishing.

There are so many laws about what police can and cannot do and how they have to do things, that it's actually quite complicated and has a steep learning curve. They also work long hours (12 hour shifts).

I'm a bit biased since I have brothers in the CHP, but it's definitely a tough job.

[metamemetics]

>Training is similar to boot camp

I somehow doubt it's harder than real boot camp in the marines, and their base pay is at least 5 times less!

[mcgraw]

I pulled my first pay stub from the Marines (2001-2005). $350 bi-weekly after taxes. 4-years/4-promotions later, I was sitting around $650 bi-weekly when I left to head to college.

We're both trained for completely different purposes. Without a doubt, sending a CHP officer into Marine Corps boot camp would be quite the whirl wind for the guy/gal.

[sedachv]

Not to mention that for all the "elite this" and "chosen that," infantry training is designed exactly for the average man.

[krschultz]

True, though not sure about California, in my home state pretty much all state troopers are ex-military anyway so it doesn't matter.

[ramchip]

Why would it not matter?

I don't understand why troopers being ex-military has any relevance to the issue.

[paddy_m]

If the already went through military bootcamp, CHP bootcamp would be a breeze.

[ramchip]

The poster's point was that having a tough boot camp does not justify the highway police salaries, since marines do a similar camp and earn a lot less. Thus saying that CHP bootcamp is a breeze for ex-military does not make that argument not matter, it reinforces it.

[Construct]

I have no doubt the training is difficult and perhaps it is a tough field to break into, but neither of those facts can justify near 100% pay increases over 2 years.

They are very obviously gaming the system in their last year before retirement to award themselves unreasonable large pensions.

[Osiris]

If you check the base salary, the year-over-year increase was between 4% and 7%, which is more than I get for a yearly raise, but not entirely unreasonable. Don't forget that the "Other" category is most benefits that aren't necessary paid out as real dollars to the employee, though it could be paid-out vacation time saved up over many years.

[dpatru]

> of course they have to learn the vehicle code

Of course this is the code that the law presumes that every driver knows. It would be unfair to punish someone for doing what they didn't know is illegal.

[eru]

I guess there's a subset of legal behaviour that easy to describe and remember. It's just when you are pushing the limits that the edges get fuzzy.

Also each driver only has to know the vehicle code as it pertains to them. E.g. if you are not a lorry driver, you don't care about lorry rules.

[jhaglund]

Do so many highway stops involve those skills that all officers must have them? Seems like highways should have a "parking enforcer" level instead/too sometimes.