CHP officers temporarily switch from tan to dark-blue uniforms
Q. Honk: The California Highway Patrol officers I’ve seen lately are wearing dark-blue or black uniforms. Have they switched from the traditional khaki color? If so, can you find out what prompted the change?
– Tom Burfield, Seal Beach
A. Honk intends to find out why, and he has the question into CHP officials in Sacramento. But he wasn’t able to unravel the mystery this week.
What he can tell you now is that most, if not all, of the CHP’s officers are indeed wearing what they call their “blue utility uniforms.” The CHP’s commissioner issued a decree on March 20 that was effective immediately, but didn’t spell out why.
The traditional uniform of the CHP is, of course, the khaki or tan, sometimes accompanied by the striking blue tie (Motorcycle officers wear bow ties). Those uniforms are wool and need to go to the dry cleaners.
The dark blues can be machine washed at home. Maybe the commish was worried, with the pandemic raging, about his officers having to drop into a dry cleaner, with social distancing and all, or the uncertainty of what businesses would stay open. It is unclear when the affected officers will return to their traditonal uniforms.
All CHP officers have the dark blues, said Duane Graham, an officer and spokesman out of the Westminster station house, so they can wear them while training or for some other task in which they have a greater chance to pick up some dirt.
The dark blues, of course, can hid those marks better than the tans.
Some CHP officers always wear the dark blues: those whose partners are K-9 dogs; the men and women on the commercial-vehicle detail, because they may have to crawl beneath a semi to ensure it is safe on the road; and the officers assigned to the salvage detail – who may need to also slide beneath a vehicle that was once in a wreck to make sure it appears safe for the highways.
Q. Dear Honk: I received the renewal notice for my driver license from the Department of Motor Vehicles by mail. I completed the form and returned it and received a code number to schedule an appointment; my license expires in October when I will be 89. The DMV website says the DMV is not making any new appointments at this time. What do I need to do? (I don’t have much confidence in the DMV notifying me in ample time to prepare for tests, etc.)
– Alan FitzGibbon, Irvine
A. This topic has been more popular in recent months than a tall glass of lemonade on a sweltering summer day.
Earlier this week, Alma Fausto, a reporter for the Southern California News Group, told our readers the latest. But Honk wants to trot out the info again, to ensure all in Honkland are updated, so here’s a recap:
To keep safe those 70 and older, who have to go into a DMV office every time they renew their driver licenses, the DMV gave them a one-year extension if their licenses expire from March 1 to Dec. 31 of this year.
Hopefully, we will all be vaccinated before these folks have to brave a DMV office. Those getting the extensions don’t need any extra document; the police agencies have been told, the DMV says.
If you qualify and want paperwork, though, you can go to dmv.ca.gov and type “extension” into the search bar and order it up.
Alan, let Honk be the first to say it this year: Happy birthday!
Honkin’ fact: One of the best drivers anywhere is Cole Custer, 22, who has a lot of Orange County in him. On Sunday, July 12, the rookie won NASCAR’s Quaker State 400 in Kentucky. He moved to Charlotte, North Carolina at one point, but he is a Ladera Ranch native who graduated from Tesoro High.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk