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About
CHP Museum

In addition to preserving and protecting the history of the California Highway Patrol, the CHP Museum strives to educate visitors about the rich past of the CHP and how it evolved to meet the changing roadway systems in this country since the inception of the motor vehicle. We also strive to honor those who have given their lives in service to the California Highway Patrol and the people of California.

We host tours of school groups, and visiting dignitaries who want to see for themselves the history of the CHP and, as part of their regular training, CHP cadets visit to learn about the rich past of the patrol and to reinforce the concept of a tradition of public service.

The CHP Museum has participated in several car shows, including the Cops and Rodders event held in Cameron Park in September of 2016. The CHP Volunteers attached to the Placerville CHP Office have embraced the restoration and maintenance of many of the museum’s vehicles and those vehicles have traveled throughout the area to be displayed at car shows. The sole surviving CHP Moto Guzzi is currently on loan to the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento for a special exhibit (that exhibit runs until mid-February 2017, be sure to take time to attend).

It is the goal of the museum to provide a constantly changing array of exhibits. We are planning an exhibit to highlight the popular television show CHiPs by displaying a variety of memorabilia. Also in the planning stages are upgrades to other exhibits such as the Women’s Traffic Officer Program (WTOP), where women first attended the academy to become state traffic officers, and an exhibit honoring Homer Garrett, the CHP’s first African American officer. Garrett fought for acceptance from a skeptical community and later became a judge.

Since we receive no taxpayer dollars, we are raising funds to provide better quarters for our four wheel vehicles so they can be properly put on display, and we are hoping to be able to provide more space for a work area and area to house the items currently in storage. We have an ongoing project to catalog, preserve and restore, where needed, our artifacts.