For Gordon Graham, the California Highway Patrol was never just a job.
On a recent episode of the CHP’s Behind the Badge podcast, the Lexipol co-founder and longtime risk management expert reflected on the early experiences that drew him to the agency, the supervisors who shaped his career and the lessons he still believes can strengthen public safety organizations across the country.
“I look back and I say everything I got came out of the CHP,” Graham said. “If I had it all to do over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
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A childhood introduction to the CHP
Graham said his first exposure to the CHP came as a child during visits to his grandmother’s ranch in Northern California.
His grandmother lived on a dirt road near East Park Reservoir in Colusa County, where a CHP officer assigned to patrol the area would regularly stop by for lemonade.
Growing up in San Francisco, Graham said he noticed the difference between local law enforcement agencies and the CHP’s command presence.
“Here’s these massive men in these big Dodge cars, and it was very impressive,” he said.
That impression stuck. So did the respect his father had for the agency.
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The moment that changed his path
Graham said the turning point came in 1972 after he and his father were driving home from visiting relatives in San Francisco.
While speeding on the freeway in his BMW, Graham caught the attention of a CHP motorcycle officer and patrol unit. But before the officer could stop him, another vehicle sped past and a pursuit began.
Graham followed the chase and, after the suspect crashed and ran, he took off on foot to help.
The officer later asked who he was with.
“I said, ‘Swensen’s Ice Cream,’” Graham recalled with a laugh.
That encounter led to a ridealong — and eventually a career.
“We went on a ridealong. It’s history,” he said.
Starting out in Los Angeles
Though he was raised in Northern California and had little familiarity with Los Angeles, Graham was assigned to Central Los Angeles after graduating from the academy.
He arrived with a television in the front seat, clothes in the back and nowhere to live.
That first night, a CHP motorcycle officer found him preparing to sleep in the office parking lot and instead offered him a place to stay.
“Just immediately it was just a really nice, I don’t want to say family, but a very tight close relationship and it was a lot of fun.”
Graham spent 10 years in Central Los Angeles as an officer and another 10 as a sergeant. During that time, he also continued his education, earning advanced degrees while working as a motorcycle officer.
He credited one sergeant in particular, Jack Becker, with showing him what strong leadership looked like.
When Graham approached Becker about returning to school, he said Becker didn’t stand in his way.
“He said, ‘Good luck. And if you need something in terms of days off or something like that, talk to me. I’ll take care of it,’” Graham said.
That kind of support stayed with him.
Leadership rooted in care
Throughout the podcast, Graham returned to one theme repeatedly: the impact of supervisors who care about their people.
He recalled wrecking a patrol car early in his career and expecting to be chewed out. Instead, Becker’s first question was simple: “Are you OK?”
Later, when Graham became a supervisor himself, he carried those lessons forward.
“Our people do a heck of a lot more right than they ever do wrong,” he said. “Catch your people doing something right.”
He shared another example that left a lasting mark. After a productive shift, Becker walked him out to his motorcycle and thanked him for his work.
“Every time I see you in briefing, I know I’m going to get a good day’s work out of you,” Graham remembered Becker saying.
Graham said former officers still mention those moments to him decades later.
Building a career around risk management
While working road patrol, Graham said he grew increasingly interested in systems, safety and preventable failures.
That interest eventually shaped the next chapter of his career.
He described his frustration with outdated thinking in agency safety practices, including resistance to seemingly simple changes backed by data. One example involved advocating for patrol car door-lock systems that could reduce injuries during pursuits. Another involved motorcycle safety and the need for officers to ride with headlights on.
“We get worked up on the wrong stuff,” Graham said.
Over time, Graham began gaining traction within the department and was invited to teach at sergeant school at the CHP Academy. He later helped push to expand that training into “supervisor school” for CHP employees beyond sworn personnel.
Eventually, he was brought to division and then headquarters, where he helped build both the Office of General Counsel and the Office of Risk Management.
“The lawyers do a darn good job at taking care of problems after they occur,” Graham said. “What can we do up front to prevent these problems from occurring?”
That mindset — preventing predictable failures before they happen — became a cornerstone of his work and later of Lexipol’s broader mission.
‘Be grateful’
Even 20 years after retiring, Graham said he still stays connected to the CHP through retirement events, funerals and conversations with officers.
One of the messages he emphasized during the podcast was gratitude.
“This is the greatest job in the world,” he said. “If I had to do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Graham acknowledged that cynicism has always existed in law enforcement, but said he believes agencies grow stronger when they adapt, improve and keep raising standards.
“You need a rising standard of quality over time and well beyond what is required by any minimum standards,” he said.
Why the work continues
Though retired from the CHP, Graham said he has no interest in slowing down.
Instead, he continues teaching, writing and helping public safety agencies improve professionalism, policy, supervision and training.
“I just wish the rest of American law enforcement was the same as the California Highway Patrol,” he said.
That goal continues to drive his work, including his role with Lexipol and his teaching with the University of Virginia.
“If I could get every law enforcement agency in the country behaving like the California Highway Patrol, I think the world will be a lot better off. And you want to talk about lofty ideas, that’s my grand plan ... to improve the quality of law enforcement nationally and then I’ll move internationally after that.”
