How to Become a CHP Officer

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By Monica Curran
eHow Contributing Writer

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(12 Ratings)

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a CHP officer? If you'd like to serve the citizens of California, there is no better profession than that of a California Highway Partrol officer.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Graduate from high school. In order to take a written test, any applicant must be 20 to 35 years of age and have a high school diploma, a GED or have passed the California High School Proficiency Examination is a requirement. If it is your desire to earn more income as a CHP officer, enrolling in an accredited 2- or 4-year college to high to receive an AA or BA degree will ensure you are at a higher income level. You'll want to take English for grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary and composition, reading and comprehension. Along with English, math is an important course to take as you will be using math for your daily work in traffic accident calculations. Also work on keyboarding skills as it will help when you are a CHP officer and must type your own daily reports. Having computer skills is also an important skill in being a CHP officer. Many CHP officers use computers for their reports and most patrol vehicles have computers in them.
Step 2

Have good vision and health. It is important each applicant have 20/20 vision in each eye. All candidates have to be able to read from the standard eye chart. It is fine for candidates to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses. In the case, candidates who wear glasses or contact lenses must have uncorrected vision no less than 20/40 in each eye and have corrected vision of 20/20 in each eye. For candidates wearing contact lenses more than 12 months, they are not required to meet an uncorrected standard as long as their vision is 20/20 in each eye. Being a CHP officer requires each candidate to have excellent health. That means all applicants must be free from any physical, mental or emotional condition that would prohibit them from performing all their essential duties and functions of a CHP officer.
Step 3

Have good, personal conduct. It goes without saying that in order to become a CHP officer, you have to conduct yourself with integrity and have a clean personal record. There should be no convictions on your record. Possessing a California Driver's License is required before your appointment to the CHP Academy. Character counts when applying to become a CHP officer. That means you should be prepared during the oral interview to give honest answers. If they are not given during the oral interview, incorrect responses will be caught in your background investigation. All applicants will be asked about recent traffic violations, at-fault automobile collisions, illegal drug usage, arrests and convictions. Telling the truth to become a CHP officer is your best bet. Prior to your background investigation, if you doubt your background at all, you have every right to contact the CHP Applicant Investigation Unit to assist you.
Step 4

A written exam. The written exam is designed to see if each applicant can has basic writing and reading comprehension. The written exam has 125 multiple choice questions. Of these 125 questions, most are about reading comprehension, grammar and word usage. This test does not require you to have law enforement knowledge. This tes is over two hours and is graded on a pass/fail criteria. It is imperiative you pass this test in order to continue to the selection process. Each applicant will be notified within two to three weeks by mail of the test results.
Step 5

Have physical strength. Once accepted to the CHP academy, it is important that you have good upper body strength. Upper body strength would include your shoulders, grip test and dynamic arm strength test. Another area that must be fit is your trunk (middle), where you need to exert 113 pounds of force with your abdominal muscles. Running is of utmost importance as a CHP officer. While at the CHP academy, you must be able to complete a 500 yard run in 2 minutes or less along with a 100 yard sprint in 20 seconds or less. Each of these tests are pass/fail and you will learn your score after each test.
Step 6

Being a U.S. citizen. Before deciding to become a CHP officer, it is also a requirement that each applicant be a United States Citizen or permanent resident immigrant.