CHP Return to Malibu (Full Time) Ultimately Lies in the Hands of the Governor and Comes with a Pricey Contract

Monday night’s Malibu City Council meeting was a packed house filled emotional pleas to city officials to find immediate solutions to decrease the dangers on PCH.

On October 17th at approximately 8:30 PM, 22 year old Fraser Bohm’s red BMW spun out of control on PCH resulting in the quadruple homicide of four female Pepperdine Students.

At the meeting, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced that CHP would increase their presence as a result of the deadly crash.

**Fraser Bohm’s totaled BMW after the crash that killed four female Pepperdine students.**

However, CHP returning to full time patrol is not guaranteed and would take the cooperation of multiple entities, including city and county officials, lobbying governor Gavin Newsom. It will also come at a significant cost and will require an agreement to a sizable contract in order to secure their patrol services on PCH.

Malibu Daily News reached out to CHP – West Valley Captain Denis Ford who gave us an in-depth explanation of the process:

“The subject of CHP performing a traffic enforcement function in the City of Malibu comes up every couple of years. CHP had the responsibility of traffic enforcement in Malibu until it became an incorporated city in the early 1990s. After that, the CHP Malibu Area was dissolved and traffic enforcement was contracted to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) along with all other law enforcement functions.

Currently, traffic enforcement in the city limits of Malibu is the jurisdiction of LASD. CHP can and does take enforcement action in the city limits, but not as part of a regular patrol function. Several miles of the city must be traveled by CHP officers in order to access CHP jurisdiction outside the city limits.

If the City of Malibu wishes CHP to provide traffic enforcement on a consistent basis, as 2400.6 VC states, a reimbursable services contract would need to be completed. CHP officers have been more visible in the area recently, I can confirm that. Our presence there is the result of my decision to augment LASD while they were dealing with the aftermath of last Tuesday’s horrific crash.

In the long run, the decision of bringing CHP back to Malibu rests with the Governor and is an expensive decision for the City.”

This is a developing story.