Central Los Angeles Area - CHP

[SgtCHP]

Yesterday, I attended the celebration of the opening of the Central Los Angeles Area - CHP. 40 years ago this month over 100 CHP Officers, supervisors and managers began working the freeways in the downtown Los Angeles community.

At yesterday's gathering, between 20 and 30 of those original personnel were present for the festivities. Although older, as they went around greeting one-another, you could see the old twinkle in their eyes as their voices cracked with remembrances of days past. A great gathering and old memories of an aging group of daily heroes rekindled from fading events.

Happy Birthday, Central!

[ASUMach1]

Great picture!!!

[McGruff]

That's pretty neat! Thanks for sharing Sarge.

[jmb070106]

That is a great picture, Sarge! Thanks for sharing!

Was Val Leksan there, by chance? He was my report writing instruction at ECC...

[FJDave]

Very cool picture. Where are you standing Sarge?

Useless trivia....I was 5 years old when the pic was taken....

[WPD954]

Useless trivia....I was 5 years old when the pic was taken....

you are only 5 years older than me ??

[WPD954]

look at that LOW I.D. number in the pic...

[orlandofed5-0]

Was John Baker, Francis Poncherello and Sgt. Joesph Getraer there? Cant have a reunion without those 3 guys!



Sarge, that is an awesome picture and here is to 140 more years of the CHP in Central LA!

[SgtCHP]

That is a great picture, Sarge! Thanks for sharing!

Was Val Leksan there, by chance? He was my report writing instruction at ECC...

I remember him; but, I cannot recall if he was at Central with me or at Santa Fe Springs. The mind develops many lapses over the years. He was a great guy.

[DOAcop38]

"remember" an LAPD traffic intructor in the Academy who groused about the "good ol' days" when LAPD patrolled the fwys taken over by CHP- "man ,we had it good" he told us......

[jmb070106]

I remember him; but, I cannot recall if he was at Central with me or at Santa Fe Springs. The mind develops many lapses over the years. He was a great guy.

I'm pretty sure he was there...a fellow classmate and I went to Central one day in order to pick-up a T/C report. We looked up from the counter and Val's picture was right there up on the wall. Keep in mind that this was 1989 or so...I'm sure he had been retired for quite some time at that point. I loved all of his stories - he'd be lecturing on the proper procedure for completing a 555 and then drift away on some tale...he had a great way of teaching and yes, a great guy in general.

[jgorto]

awesome picture thanks for sharing. I think Grossman was there but no baker or poncharella.

[SgtCHP]

Was John Baker, Francis Poncherello and Sgt. Joesph Getraer there? Cant have a reunion without those 3 guys!



Sarge, that is an awesome picture and here is to 140 more years of the CHP in Central LA!

Bob Pine, Larry Wilcox, Erik Estrada and Paul Linke were all at the festivities. You must remember, however, that "CHiPs" did not air until the later part of 1977 or early 1978 so they were not depicted as original members of the squad.

[AirSahara]

Which CHP office in the Southern Division is the busiest in terms of calls for service; which is the largest office when it comes to man-power?

Just curious!

[SgtCHP]

Southern Division Quick Facts

10 Area Offices
1 Commercial Inspection Facilities
1 Traffic Management Center
1,123 Uniformed Officers
359 Non-Uniformed Personnel

I don't know what the statistical breakdowns are now. It used to be that Central LA was the largest in personnel and the smallest in geographical area. Things have changed dramatically since I was working so I will have to yield to any current officers who may be privy to that information.