WHO IN THE CHP COULD SCREW UP YOUR COLLISION?
Sergeants:
In every company there is always someone who likes to make everyone else look bad or tries to belittle someone who might have not been promoted. In the case of the CHP there is a well known saying when anyone gets their first promotion. When a new Sgt. is promoted, it is said that person just received their lobotomy (removal of the frontal lobes of the brain).
In many cases the surgery doesn't take effect for almost a year. Why you may ask? Every new promotion comes with a year on probation. It seems however, that should someone be promoted to Capt. or above, they are magically given some of their brain back... we are not sure of how this process is completed or if by the time they reach Capt., there are just far to many management problems to worry about.
Unless the officer who works on your collision is fresh out of the academy, in which case they would have a training officer, you accident will generally be completed within a short time and for the most part accurate. The investigating officer has to have every collision approved by an "AI Officer" Accident Investigation Officer or proofreader. This person is the most hated person in any CHP Office because they (if they are any good at their job) will be the only back bone in the office when it comes to telling an investigating officer they did something wrong or left something out of a report.
The Sgt. however has the ability to sign any collision report and send it passed the AI officer. Ten out of ten times this will be a tremendous blunder and almost always make the office look like a bunch of flaming idiots. The AI officer has received special training to look for errors or missed items in collision reports. They have generally received the best and highest level of training within the area office and are fully aware of what the Department, Area Commander and Division wants on all the reports and or investigations that are completed.
Captain or Area Commander:
There is only one CHP office in the state (again that we know of) that gives the AI officer almost total power over the reports and that would be the Modesto Area office. That Area Commander, although a good man at heart, is a dictator of the area. Things are done his way or not at all and unfortunately in many cases all he is doing is putting fluff on a larger problem. He will hold investigations up for months at a time. Normally we would commend this action IF there were a good reason, but he likes to assign road officers (those that work in the field) to special assignments within the office, which in turn takes manpower from the public protection and services. He has held up major investigations to have the investigating officer contact people in other countries, even when the investigating officer has concluded his investigation.
