CHP Freq Question for the Mojave, CA Area

[NORCAL]

I frequently travel through the Mojave area on SR 58. I never hear any traffic from a CHP mobile unit that has pulled over someone for speeding on the standard Gold frequencies for that area (Base 42.120 and Mobile 42.200). Does anyone who is familiar with that region know what the CHP uses for traffic control frequencies? Are they using local sheriff frequencies? I monitor all the CHP frequencies while in Mojave area, but do not hear the report from the CHP officer who has just pulled over a motorist and asks the dispatcher for registration and driver license information. While monitoring all the frequencies, I’ve witness the officer talk on the radio but never hear the traffic. I’m looking for someone to respond who has first hand knowledge of what they do in that area.

 

[Eng74]

It looks right. I really never see the CHP out here pulling anyone over (I bet I get pulled over after this now LOL). The next time I am on a call with CHP I'll ask one of the guys which ch. they use. They do not run anything on the Kern SO and SBSO is on the 800mhz system. CHP have been given use of KCFD's to give a heads up on calls. It happens a lot in the Mojave area and in the Bakersfield area.

 

[SCPD]

I drive that way about 2-6 times per year. I have heard the mobile side both on 42.20 and the extender frequency of 154.905. I can't tell you when that was, but I believe in the last two years would be safe. They are dispatched Bishop and have been on the Gold for about 8-10 years, ever since Bishop became a 24 hour dispatch center and Mojave was given up by Barstow and switched to Bishop. At that point Mojave switched to Gold from White and Bridgeport and Bishop finally got off Blue in order to switch to Gold.

 

[1979lee]

I frequently travel through the Mojave area on SR 58. I never hear any traffic from a CHP mobile unit that has pulled over someone for speeding on the standard Gold frequencies for that area (Base 42.120 and Mobile 42.200). Does anyone who is familiar with that region know what the CHP uses for traffic control frequencies? Are they using local sheriff frequencies? I monitor all the CHP frequencies while in Mojave area, but do not hear the report from the CHP officer who has just pulled over a motorist and asks the dispatcher for registration and driver license information. While monitoring all the frequencies, I’ve witness the officer talk on the radio but never hear the traffic. I’m looking for someone to respond who has first hand knowledge of what they do in that area.

I had the same thing happen to me , i saw a traffic stop and i had my chp band on and
nothing, they might be useing there mdt's (if they have them avaliable) the stop i saw was about two months ago , near the chp scale just west of mojave.

Maybe they use there nextel or cell phones to run a plate?

Hey ex smokey thanks for the history of the bishop area chp ,
now i know how they did the freq switch.

since the mojave office is on the gold , will i here the bridgeport and the bishop offices too ?

 

[SCPD]

The Bridgeport Area Office (71) cover most of Mono County, the Bishop Area Office (72) covers all of Inyo County and U.S. 6 in Mono County, and the Mojave Area Office (59) covers eastern Kern County. All are on Gold and dispatched by Bishop.

Dispatching in Bishop used to cover only the day and swing shifts when they just had areas 71 and 72 using the Blue. Dispatching during the graveyard shift was handed over to Bishop PD, although there were no regularly scheduled CHP units on that shift. Accidents during that shift were handled by call out only. Apparantly, by adding the Mojave office 8-10 years ago, it justified the third shift for the Bishop CHP dispatch center.

Now that I think about it, the switch to Gold may have occured around 1999 or 2000.

 

[1979lee]

The Bridgeport Area Office (71) cover most of Mono County, the Bishop Area Office (72) covers all of Inyo County and U.S. 6 in Mono County, and the Mojave Area Office (59) covers eastern Kern County. All are on Gold and dispatched by Bishop.

Dispatching in Bishop used to cover only the day and swing shifts when they just had areas 71 and 72 using the Blue. Dispatching during the graveyard shift was handed over to Bishop PD, although there were no regularly scheduled CHP units on that shift. Accidents during that shift were handled by call out only. Apparantly, by adding the Mojave office 8-10 years ago, it justified the third shift for the Bishop CHP dispatch center.

Now that I think about it, the switch to Gold may have occured around 1999 or 2000.

Thanks for the info smokey,
bishop is one of my favorite chp offiece to listen in to, although the closet repeater for the
gold is near the keene truck scales , i only get reception occasonally (today its great), i live in north bakersfield, and iam in a low lieing area of town , i live in kcfd station 64 area , thats as close as i am going to say where i live for my familys safity.
so my reception is not good for the eastern kern county area.
thanks

 

[hardware1197]

CHP traffic stops

CHP officers rarely call in their traffic stops. You will only hear traffic if there is some discrepancy found on registration documents, or if something unusual happens on the stop.

I have always wondered why this practice existed, since it contravenes what is considered a customary officer safety procedure everywhere else. It was summed up to me one day when it was pointed out to me that in the LA area, just in one office area, there could be 15 units making a car stop al at the same time. The dispatcher might go nutty.

 

[SCPD]

CHP officers rarely call in their traffic stops. You will only hear traffic if there is some discrepancy found on registration documents, or if something unusual happens on the stop.

I have always wondered why this practice existed, since it contravenes what is considered a customary officer safety procedure everywhere else. It was summed up to me one day when it was pointed out to me that in the LA area, just in one office area, there could be 15 units making a car stop al at the same time. The dispatcher might go nutty.

I have noticed this over the years and it puzzles me also. If an officer makes a stop and the location and vehicle description is not known to anyone but the officer, what happens when things go bad? The officer could be shot and unable to use the extender. The officer could get into a wrestling match and would not be able to key up the extender. There are many scenerios that are very similar.

There are loads of agency radio systems with equal numbers of officers on one dispatch channel where 15 units might be making traffic stops, arriving or departing a call, requesting services, etc. Those agencies have their officers call in every change in status so it is a mystery why the CHP does not, considering the possibilities for officer safety problems pointed out in the last paragraph.

But then what do I really know about law enforcement? It was just one of about 10 hats I had to wear in my first career.

 

[Mick]

CHP stops

Not calling in the traffic stops are mainly due to the sheer high number of traffic stops that are made by CHP officers that prohibits an absolute requirement policy to call in every single stop. Any officer may call in every single stop if desired though. Many officers are very good at multitasking and will send all the traffic stop info via MDC to dispatch; you can get very good at that with traffic stop templates in the MDC. This method of not having a policy requiring advising dispatch of every stop has worked very well for the CHP. If an officer ever checks a license plate or driver license or other CLETS info, then he is required to give the location of the stop.

I have noticed this over the years and it puzzles me also. If an officer makes a stop and the location and vehicle description is not known to anyone but the officer, what happens when things go bad? The officer could be shot and unable to use the extender. The officer could get into a wrestling match and would not be able to key up the extender. There are many scenerios that are very similar.

There are loads of agency radio systems with equal numbers of officers on one dispatch channel where 15 units might be making traffic stops, arriving or departing a call, requesting services, etc. Those agencies have their officers call in every change in status so it is a mystery why the CHP does not, considering the possibilities for officer safety problems pointed out in the last paragraph.

But then what do I really know about law enforcement? It was just one of about 10 hats I had to wear in my first career.

 

[hardware1197]

It might be working for the CHP, but it has failed a number of their officers. Without going into it too much here, the debate is a connundrum, and I'm not sure how reliable the Chippie's MDT's are. My hope is that they have good coverage, and that the start using them to log their stops, as opposed to the scribbling of the plate on the jotto pad, or as in a recent case, finding the registration clutched in a downed officer's hand.

As for the sheer number of stops.....they wern't calling in their stops on midnights when there are only two units in the whole of Mendecino County, and they had no MDT's back then. It's part of the culture of the CHP.

Anyway, the point was to answer the question about why no traffic was heard, and I guess we answered that one into the earth.

 

[nhp9943]

We never called out at LASD when I was there in the early eighties. I do remember one time we had a civilian call my station and say " one of your deputies is getting his ass kicked in front of my home". We did not have any portable radios just car, and the deputy being assaulted was lucky someone called.

 

[Radio_Lady]

Calling in traffic stops

Not calling in the traffic stops are mainly due to the sheer high number of traffic stops that are made by CHP officers that prohibits an absolute requirement policy to call in every single stop. Any officer may call in every single stop if desired though.

and

We never called out at LASD when I was there in the early eighties.

LAPD's procedure has always been much the same as CHP's and LASD's, for better or worse. Very few LAPD units are one-officer now, though, which makes it a little more understandable. I don't know when the one-officer cars started, but they were pretty common in the 70s in some divisions, especially the Valley. Not many at all now, and the motors usually ride in pairs, usually within sight of each other if not together.

I have noticed a marked increase in traffic-stop call-ins in the last year or so, probably not at all a coincidence, as the number of shootings of/at officers has increased significantly, and not just in L.A.

MDTs are real handy, but can present an officer-safety issue in themselves if the officer buries his/her head in the keyboard and gets distracted from what the subjects being detained are doing.

 

[KMA367]

Calling in traffic stops

LAPD's procedure has always been much the same as CHP's and LASD's, for better or worse. Very few LAPD units are one-officer now, though, which makes it a little more understandable. I don't know when the one-officer cars started...

It was on August 1, 1951. The city was growing like crazy after WWII, and to make matters worse the department was now losing a lot of officers who were re-enlisting for the Korean War. They could barely field even a minimal number of patrol cars. Chief Parker, the Police Protective League, and Training Division agreed on a trial set of "one-officer patrol car" procedures that was acceptable to all concerned.

Originally the one-man cars were required to radio in all their traffic stops, and to add "Code 9" only if they wanted a (non-emergency) back-up. Otherwise they were considered "Code 4" for up to 10 minutes. Either way, traffic stops like all "out" locations of one-man cars, were "echoed" by the RTO, as this was long before repeaters came in.

The problem with that procedure was that then - as now - many officers were reluctant to ask for assistance unless stuff was really going sideways, and occasionally got into trouble with nobody on the way. So the procedure was kind of reversed. The Code 9 was eliminated, and when calling in a stop the officer would now have to add "no back-up" only if he felt safe. If he didn't say "no back-up", a second unit would be sent no-code. Of course, if he DID need either back-up, assistance or help he'd ask for it and it would be handled accordingly.

 

[NORCAL]

Mojave CHP Freq Question

Thanks to all who replied to my Mojave CHP frequency question.

 

[1979lee]

Thanks to all who replied to my Mojave CHP frequency question.

Your welcome NORCAL
this has been a topic of great interset to me as i love to travel in the bishop (gold) area of california , thanks for bringing this to the table.]


thanls 1979lee

 

[hardware1197]

Another CHP stop tidbit

I noticed that this has changed in the last few years.....

I always used to monitor 154.905 when I was on dudty, because I could tell when a Chippie was out of his car nearby based on the strength of the signal. Now-a-days, monitoring that frequency is a big pain in the ass due to major pager bleedover and whatnot.

You could always tell when a Chippie was making a stop nearby, because when he switched on the portable, a loud "beep" was broadcast by I'm guessing the repeater in the trunk on 154.905.

We would actually go looking for the Chippie on mids when it was slow when we heard the beep....just to check on them...it was kind of a game.

I have noticed that this is no longer the case. I have not heard the "beep" in years, although I must admit that it's locked out most of the time now because of the annoying bleedover garbage.

 

[nhp9943]

I noticed that this has changed in the last few years.....

I always used to monitor 154.905 when I was on dudty, because I could tell when a Chippie was out of his car nearby based on the strength of the signal. Now-a-days, monitoring that frequency is a big pain in the ass due to major pager bleedover and whatnot.

You could always tell when a Chippie was making a stop nearby, because when he switched on the portable, a loud "beep" was broadcast by I'm guessing the repeater in the trunk on 154.905.

We would actually go looking for the Chippie on mids when it was slow when we heard the beep....just to check on them...it was kind of a game.

I have noticed that this is no longer the case. I have not heard the "beep" in years, although I must admit that it's locked out most of the time now because of the annoying bleedover garbage.

It is still active as I monitor it when traveling between Phoenix and LA on the 10. However maybe some of you LA area guys can tell me why I have seen Chippies on the LA news with what appear to be UHF or 800 portables only on their hip. Have they changed the extender freq in some metro areas?

 

[spock00]

I hear LAPD officers call in traffic stops all the time here in NoHo.
For example "15-A-43 Code 6 on a traffic stop at 12545 Burbank Blvd. Lic # XXXXXX"

Dispatcher repeats "I show 15-A-43 Code 6 on a traffic stop at 12545 Burbank Blvd. Lic # XXXXXX"

They also don't hesitate to have a large number of units on scene in this area. Even for minor incidents. I've seen 4-5 two man units on scene for code 2 calls.

 

[SkipSanders]

Just a note, at least in the San Diego area, there is a repeater up for Blue (Blue-1) on 39.14 MHz. They went to it today for a while during repeater maintenance on Orange-1 (39.4 Repeater)

 

[trooperdude]

Not calling in the traffic stops are mainly due to the sheer high number of traffic stops that are made by CHP officers that prohibits an absolute requirement policy to call in every single stop. .

That's been CHP's excuse for years, but somehow urban departments with MUCH higher call and car stop volumes have managed to do it for years without an issue. :roll:

Having been on both sides (dispatcher and peace officer), I still believe it's an officer safety problem, and wonder why their union doesn't push for better officer safety.