The El Cajon Area office was established in 1976, when the California Highway Patrol (Border Division) realized that covering the San Diego East County was no longer feasible from its then, Mission Valley office. The El Cajon Area now covers nearly 3,000 square miles. Due to the large and varied geographic nature of the area served, there are 96 uniformed officers deployed at any given time. They are supervised by a team of ten sergeants, two lieutenants and one captain.
The region served by the El Cajon Area contains urban, rural, desert, mountain, recreational and wilderness areas. The El Cajon Area serves the unincorporated communities of El Cajon, Granite Hills, Dehesa, Spring Valley, Rancho San Diego, Jamul, Lakeside, Alpine and many others. Major freeways in the El Cajon Area include State Route 94, State Route 52, State Route 125, and Interstate 8. Non-freeway major highways include State Route 67, State Route 76, State Route 78 and State Route 79.
There are four resident posts and 16 resident post officers. The communities of Ramona, Julian, Borrego Springs and Jacumba are served by these resident posts.
