WEST SACRAMENTO, CA— The California Highway Patrol Academy in West Sacramento is closing its doors and cadets are being reassigned to CHP offices near their homes until the coronavirus pandemic is over, CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley announced Friday.

"While we have been making every effort to keep the cadets safe and healthy during their training these last few weeks, the best, and most responsible decision I can make to protect them is to send them home," Stanley said. "I cannot accept the risk that any one of the cadets or staff becomes ill and then be faced with having to quarantine the entire campus."



As of 6 p.m. Thursday in California, there were 1,006 positive cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, and 19 deaths.



The academy closure comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement Thursday that a statewide stay-at-home order was issued and was effective immediately for all residents, up and down the state.

The CHP Academy opened in 1976 and is where every CHP officer in the state attends training. The completely self-contained, 457-acre campus has 168 dorm rooms that house the cadets during their 28 weeks of intensive training.

The current class of 177 cadets — 79 seniors and 98 juniors — remain state employees during this temporary closure and are expected to report to work Tuesday at a CHP office near their home, CHP Director of Communications Fran Clader said.

"There, they will perform administrative duties and have the ability to observe law enforcement operations and learn the functions of an Area office, similar to where they will report upon graduation," Clader said.



The CHP says the only time training has been interrupted at the Academy since it opened for full-time operation in July 1976 was in 1992 during the riots that swept Los Angeles and on several other occasions as the result of state fiscal constraints.

During this coronavirus-related closure, the majority of the academy's uniformed personnel are also being reassigned to CHP offices across the state. Kitchen and janitorial staff will remain and thoroughly clean the facility. Other administrative projects and duties deemed mission critical will continue, Clader said.



The move is temporary; as soon as the pandemic is over, the cadets will resume training where they left off, CHP officials said.



"Cadets are critical to the CHP mission," Stanley said. "We need them to fill vacancies created by retiring officers so that we can continue to provide the level of Safety, Service, and Security the public expects."