PD vs. SD vs. CHP

[epilepticninja]

Sheriff's departments usually have the responsibility as the Coroner as well.

[Jonathan Doe]

Sheriff's departments usually have the responsibility as the Coroner as well.

Not in Los Angeles County. In LA, coroners have their own department with their own coroner's investigators and criminalists.

[9mmepiphany]

Not in Sacramento County either

One of the differences in how a department is run has to do with how the head of the department is selected.

A Sheriff is elected, a Chief of Police is appointed by the City Manager, and the Head of the CHP is appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Assembly/State Senate.

The CHP is the most interesting because they were able to take over the duties of the State Police. Their only political rival in the state is the CDC

[ckim34]

You guys never notice that on POST training videos that the only people that say officers AND/OR deputies work for a SO/SD?

[epilepticninja]

Not in Sacramento County either

Sacramento County is among 12 counties in California that has a separate Coroner's Office or Medical Examiner/District Attorney Coroner, while the other counties combine this function with the Sheriff's Department.

That's why I used the word "usually."

[JayCo]

You guys never notice that on POST training videos that the only people that say officers AND/OR deputies work for a SO/SD?

Hahahah we actually noticed this in class once....EVERY SO/SD did the and/or....but the PD guys only said officers!! hahahaha

[Notorious]

Read CA penal code 830 et.al. It will spell out every type of peace officer in this state. All law enforcement fall under the generic class of "peace" officer.

CHP are state LE and they are LE anywhere in the state for their primary duties. City and county LE (police and sheriff) are LE in their jurisdiction of hire and anywhere else they have been given authority by the head LEO. All agencies have some sort of MOU where they agree to help each other and allow cooperation in inter-agency operations such as when our pursuits go into a neighboring city.

Specialized police are police anywhere in the state as it relates to their primary duty. Then you have the various investigators from the state regulatory agencies who are LE but not traditional like us uniformed guys.

However, as the state lumps us all under peace officer, we all have the same state mandated minimum training standards. Each agency then can put more requirements on top of the state minimums if they want. But the minimum of 664 hours at least guarantees that most of us will be on the same page when we do work together.

Do some google on the code. It's actually very interesting.

[Mr310]

Read CA penal code 830 et.al. It will spell out every type of peace officer in this state. All law enforcement fall under the generic class of "peace" officer.

CHP are state LE and they are LE anywhere in the state for their primary duties. City and county LE (police and sheriff) are LE in their jurisdiction of hire and anywhere else they have been given authority by the head LEO. All agencies have some sort of MOU where they agree to help each other and allow cooperation in inter-agency operations such as when our pursuits go into a neighboring city.

Specialized police are police anywhere in the state as it relates to their primary duty. Then you have the various investigators from the state regulatory agencies who are LE but not traditional like us uniformed guys.

However, as the state lumps us all under peace officer, we all have the same state mandated minimum training standards. Each agency then can put more requirements on top of the state minimums if they want. But the minimum of 664 hours at least guarantees that most of us will be on the same page when we do work together.

Do some google on the code. It's actually very interesting.

I'll definitely check it out. I was under the impression that CHP had no jurisdiction outside of Highways and Boulevards, though.

[JS89]

A highway is any publicly maintained road to include streets, blvds, freeways and much more.

[Notorious]

I thought so too then I see chippies cruising the streets in the unincorporated county areas. They split the duties with sheriffs there. CHP handles the traffic on surface streets while the sheriff handles the general LE service. Chippies also handle general LE in very small towns, provide security for state buildings, investigate traffic accidents involving public school buses anywhere it happens, and dignitary protection for officials. Say what you will about chippies, they can drive like nobody's business.

Me? I like my navy uniform. It's more slimming and doesn't show sweat stains like the tan and green.

[kung fu panda]

A couple things....

We all do the same thing...kind of. We all try to help people. The CHP specializes on highway work, city PDs work within a city, and SDs work in the unincorporated pockets of cities and the rural areas...and the jails, and courts, and coronor, and civil matters...

As you probably guessed, I'm a little biased to SDs. Generally there is a greater variety of work assignments.

[fullrearview]

I'll definitely check it out. I was under the impression that CHP had no jurisdiction outside of Highways and Boulevards, though.

Common mistake, don't worry about it... Out of state officers/deputies also have peace officer powers IF an agreement with that state/county/city is in place, OR they are formally requested via radio or other communication...

To my knowledge (which isn't much) CHP has a 50 mile agreement into Nevada to assist NHP.

[Mr310]

Do Sheriffs ever do undercover work?

[Cokebottle]

CHP = state police and has jurisdiction anywhere in the state of Ca. You can think of the great agency as being a law enforcement arm of the DMV, where they specialize in traffic law enforcement.

SD and PD are your general policing agencies that cover a wide spectrum of policing. The difference between most PD and SD is that SD run the jail and courts, although, some PD do have their own jails that are usually manned by civilian city employees.

In practicality, that is correct.
Legally, every officer in California is commissioned by the Governor and the entire state is his jurisdiction. Professional courtesy and efficiency keep city cops within the city, county in unincorporated and contract cities, and CHP on the highway.

But frequently, joint operations will have officers out of their normal territory. A friend of mine who worked for Anaheim was always getting involved in investigations and sting operations that took him as far as Barstow.

[Cokebottle]

To my knowledge (which isn't much) CHP has a 50 mile agreement into Nevada to assist NHP.

And they're always buzzing up and down the AZ side of 95 between I-40 and Parker.