Burlingame Hills Sees Increased CHP Presence

Although the California Highway Patrol is often associated with freeways, Burlingame Hills residents are seeing more CHP officers in their neighborhood streets as part of an effort aimed at improving driver and pedestrian safety in the area.

“When people think highway patrol, they think freeways,” said Mike Maskarich, Redwood City Area California Highway Patrol Captain. “A big part of our responsibility is traffic management in many of our unincorporated areas.”

Maskarich attended a community gathering in January, meeting with Burlingame Hills residents and hearing their concerns, such as drunk drivers, speeding, and property and landscape damage including knocked over mail boxes due to hit and run collisions. Through meeting with residents, he gathered a better understanding of what they want from CHP officers.

“This traditionally has not been an area that we’ve had a lot of calls for service," said Maskarich. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t inherent concerns of the residents.”

He stressed the purpose of an increased presence is not to write more tickets. He said a common misconception is that the CHP receives money from tickets. In fact, his agency is funded through the Department of Motor Vehicles.

What Maskarich and members of his agency strive to accomplish is better educating Burlingame Hills residents on the importance of following the rules of the road and practicing safe driving.

“Distracted driving is a huge issue…I’ve stopped people for reading a book while driving,” he said. “We’re there because we want to enhance safety, we want them to obey the rules of the road, we want them to put their cell phones down.”

Safety is paramount to the CHP officers patrolling Burlingame Hills, and they additionally offer educational programs for community members, such as a Start Smart program for young drivers and child safety seat installation assistance.

Maskarich also plans for more outreach and education to parents and students at in Burlingame who drive through the neighborhood to get to school.

As an unincorporated area, Burlingame Hills residents sometimes feel as though they are overlooked in terms of public safety, and Maskarich said his goal was to make sure they felt they have a voice and know someone is listening.

“There was a lot of frustration among the residents…they sometimes felt like they never saw [an officer] in their area,” he said.  “We’re here to become part of the solution and to help the residents with what has been a long-term challenge they have been dealing with.”

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