Perspectives: CHP: Here to serve, with educational opportunities
The California Highway Patrol, like your school board, is an educational institution. Perhaps not in the traditional sense, but we have many educational opportunities available to you. We would like to share with you, your staff and your student body some of our educational programs that are geared to help us be safe.
Since our programs reach a wide range of people, we have multiple programs that we can present. Two of the newer programs we administer and teach are 1) the Drug and Impairment Training for Educational Professionals and 2) Impact Teen Drivers. They are taught to teachers and administrators who can then pass along the information to students and parents.
The Drug Impairment Training for Educational Professionals module is 16 hours of classroom instruction focused on intervention; it is designed to give school teachers, staff, nurses, school resource officers and administrators basic knowledge of how to detect when students are impaired by drugs.
The two-day class covers: standardized field sobriety testing concepts and principles; alcohol as a drug; seven categories of drugs; physiology of drugs; drugs in society; eye and vital sign examination; drug combinations; and notification and resources.
The class is taught by certified drug recognition experts provided by our Impaired Driving Unit located at the CHP Academy. To schedule training or reach that unit, e-mail dre@chp.ca.gov or phone 916-376-3200.
We are an ex officio partner with the California Teachers Association, California Casualty Management Group and the California Association of Highway Patrolmen to help promote the organization Impact Teen Drivers.
Impact Teen Drivers’ purpose is to provide awareness and education to teenagers, their parents, and community members about all facets of responsible driving, with the goal of reducing the number of injuries and deaths suffered by teen drivers as a result of distracted driving and poor decision-making.
The program has delivered classroom awareness and educational materials (posters, DVDs, statistics, stickers and more) and T-shirts to every public high school in California. By the end of 2010, Impact Teen Drivers will expand into 27 states. To learn more, contact Kelly Browning via e-mail: kbrowning@impactteendrivers.org. To schedule a training class, contact your local CHP public information officer.
Three other programs that we administer and teach are Right Turn, Start Smart, and Every 15 Minutes.
Right Turn is geared toward students 11-14 years of age. It focuses on making the right decisions when it comes to alcohol and the peer pressure involved with getting into a car driven by an older teenager who is impaired. The class is usually taught in an assembly setting with handout materials for students, parents and teachers.
Start Smart provides new teen drivers and their parents/guardians with an interactive safe-driving awareness class. It focuses on the responsibilities of newly licensed drivers and their parents or guardians who must attend the class, and collision avoidance techniques. The class is taught at a CHP area office, lasts about two hours and, as with all our programs, is free of charge. Contact your local CHP office to determine when the next class is scheduled.
Every 15 Minutes: We have been administering this program since October 2000. In that time we have held over 1,100 programs at high schools throughout California. It is an intense, two-day experience planned by allied law enforcement agencies, educators, firefighters, community hospitals, chaplains, counselors, the judiciary, local business groups and parents. The program challenges students to think about drinking, driving, personal safety and the impact their decisions have on family, friends and others.
If you would like any information on these or other CHP programs, contact the area office closest to you. Our area offices can be found in the state government listings of your white pages under Highway Patrol, or visit the CHP Web site (www.chp.ca.gov) and click on “Divisions & Offices” to navigate to addresses and phone numbers in your area. If you would like a presentation at your meeting or simply like to visit the office, ask for the commander or a public information officer. You may also call our CHP Headquarters Office of Community Outreach and Recruitment at 916-843-3210.
These educational programs assist the CHP mission of providing the highest level of safety, service, and security to the people of California. We primarily accomplish our mission through enforcement, engineering and education. We focus on our educational programs to help us get our message out.
The educational component of the CHP’s mission was established to prevent, deter, and reduce the tragic results of traffic-related incidents. Our programs reach a broad range of individuals from different age groups and diverse backgrounds.
To accomplish this educational component, we are more committed than ever to developing partnerships with community leaders and organizations such as school boards. We have found that we are more efficient and effective when we offer our outreach services, such as traffic safety programs, in the communities where we have built professional relationships.
One of the primary focuses in accomplishing our mission is communication with everyone we serve. We have had a great relationship with schools for many years, and we will look forward to continuing that partnership in the future.
Ramona Prieto is the assistant commissioner of leadership development and communications at CHP headquarters in Sacramento. She oversees the CHP Academy, the Office of Community Outreach and Recruitment, the Office of Media Relations and the Office of Organizational Development. Assistant Commissioner Prieto believes in the value of public education and shared partnerships; she has welcomed and encouraged her five daughters’ education in West Covina and Davis public schools.