After successful recruitment push, California Highway Patrol is ‘pacing’ hiring
In 2022, the California Highway Patrol requested $2 million from the legislature for a recruitment campaign intended to attract more people to apply for a job with the law enforcement agency. In the years leading up to the request, applications had dropped significantly, and the number of vacant positions in CHP’s ranks had grown to concerning levels.
CHP launched the campaign in June of that year with the goal of hiring 1,000 officers. Two years later, the law enforcement agency announced that it had reached that goal.
It’s clear that the recruitment effort was a success.
Between 2022 and 2025, the number of applications CHP received doubled. The department is on track to hire at least 780 officers this year after the latest academy class graduates on Friday. And the vacancy rate for CHP officers, which was 16% in 2023, dropped to 7.4% last month — the lowest level since 2014.
“The California Highway Patrol is proud of its achievements in recruiting and retaining officers to ensure the state’s public safety,” department spokesperson Jaime Coffee said in a statement.
As a result of these successful efforts, Coffee said the department is “strategically pacing its hiring to align with operational needs.” But it’s not clear exactly how hiring will change in 2026.
An email sent to applicants earlier this year raised some concern about when those candidates might be eligible to attend CHP academy.
“CHP received an unprecedented number of applications, allowing us to significantly reduce Officer vacancies. As a result, we have adjusted the timeline for our December 2025 Academy class, with plans to resume training in 2026,” the email read.
California Association of Highway Patrolmen President Jake Johnson said the agency did not provide the union with information about changes to 2025-26 recruiting and academy classes. Despite this, staffing remains a strong concern for the union, Johnson said in a statement.
Coffee said that CHP will continue accepting applications and will aim to fill each academy class with 160 candidates. In 2026, CHP expects to graduate two academy classes currently in training and to train four other classes, Coffee said. (As of Friday, six academy classes will have graduated this year.)
The hiring process to become a CHP officer is not like that of other state jobs.
Qualified applicants first have to pass written and physical exams before they undergo psychological evaluations and background checks. Those who make it past those steps can then take part in CHP’s academy: a 26-week intense training program that candidates must complete before earning their badge.
The lengthy hiring process could be one contributing factor to CHP’s previously high vacancy rate. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office suggested that some combination of recruitment challenges and turnover could also be the cause.
One reason state departments struggle to hire qualified candidates is because the salary isn’t competitive enough, but CHP officers have the highest base pay compared to other state-employed peace officers, according to the LAO’s analysis. Starting salaries are as high as $122,500, the department advertises on its careers site.
Coffee explained that the department was able to attract more candidates and hire more than 60% more officers in 2025, compared to 2022, because CHP worked with contractors to streamline the application process. Word-of-mouth referrals and additional funding for recruitment advertising led to the submission of more than 33,000 applications in 2025.
“Moving forward, the CHP will continue to accept applications from highly motivated individuals interested in serving the public and the state of California,” Coffee said.
