SACRAMENTO,
Calif. – California Highway Patrol (CHP) Commissioner Warren Stanley today
announced that the CHP Academy in West Sacramento will be closing its doors for
cadet training amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“While we
have been making every effort to keep the cadets safe and healthy during their
training these last few weeks, the best, and most responsible decision I can
make to protect them is to send them home,” Commissioner Stanley said. “I cannot accept the risk that any one of the
cadets or staff becomes ill and then be faced with having to quarantine the
entire campus.”
The only time
the Academy has interrupted training since it opened for full-time operation in
July 1976 was in 1992 during the riots that swept Los Angeles and on several
other occasions as the result of state fiscal constraints.
The
current class of 79 senior cadets and 98 junior cadets, who remain state
employees, will report to work Tuesday at a CHP Area office near their
home. There, they will perform
administrative duties and have the ability to observe law enforcement
operations and learn the functions of an Area office, similar to where they
will report upon graduation.
The move
is temporary. As soon as the pandemic is
over, the cadets will resume training where they left off.
“Cadets
are critical to the CHP mission,” said Commissioner Stanley. “We need them to fill vacancies created by
retiring officers so that we can continue to provide the level of Safety, Service,
and Security the public expects.”
The
Academy is a completely self-contained 457-acre campus. There are 168 dorm
rooms that house the cadets during their 28 weeks of intensive training.
During the
closure, the majority of Academy uniformed personnel will be reassigned to Area
offices, while kitchen and janitorial staff will remain and thoroughly clean
the facility. Other administrative
projects and duties deemed mission critical will continue.
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