Tax cuts are service cuts. California is laying of highway patrol officers because of the budget mess. The people of California are demanding less law enforcement.
State budget woes may doom hundreds of CHP officers’ jobs
By RAMONA TURNER
Sentinel staff writer
SACRAMENTO — The state budget crisis could cause hundreds of California Highway Patrol officers to lose their jobs.
But how the proposed cuts might affect Santa Cruz County and the rest of the state remains to be seen.
"Earlier this year, all the departments of state government were told to put together a plan that, if needed, would show how they would lay off 10 percent of their work force," CHP’s public affairs commander Tom Marshall said Thursday. "We thought we wouldn’t have to do any layoffs because of our homeland security and traffic safety mission."
Marshall said 469 officers could get letters in the next two weeks saying they are "considered a surplus employee," and that they would be subject to layoffs.
Another 370 behind-the-scenes officers, such as 911 dispatchers and truck inspectors, also would receive a letter, Marshall said, noting 300 such positions have been eliminated.
Gov. Gray Davis’ office says no final decision has been made whether any law enforcement officers will be let go.
If the CHP were forced to lay off 7 percent of its 6,500 officers, many of those assigned to nonpatrol programs would be put back on the road.
CHP employees with about a year of service, as well as the 138 cadets who graduate today and 140 others who’ll graduate later this year, will be given 120 days to consider their options, Marshall said. It costs $17 million to train 138 cadets for 27 weeks.
Locally, CHP spokesman Sam Courtney said it is too soon to tell how the proposed cuts might affect his office, which has 53 officers, including those who patrol the county and those in administrative positions.
Statewide, one of the first things that might be scaled back is the anti-terrorist truck inspection program, which would go from 24 hours a day to 16. DUI checkpoints, drug-sniffing dog programs and narcotics task forces also are on the list.
Locally, the Safe on 17 program, which boosts CHP presence on the mountainous portion of Highway 17 between Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties, could be spared.
The three-year, $300,000 Safe on 17 project is funded by a partnership between the commission and the San Francisco Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways, said Luis Mendez of the county Regional Transportation Commission.
The money comes from a locally imposed vehicle licensing fee and may not be taken away by state lawmakers. |
