So are the Staties patrolling the streets like a typical cop might? In CA it's very common to see Sheriffs and many cities contract the County Sheriff for their city police department, but you'd never see a State cop patrolling the city streets. Hell last night I must have counted 8 SDPD cars and 3 Sheriff cars on the same road (I live a couple blocks from the University).
I don't think I'd be very happy if I had to deal with CHP patrolling those streets as well.
In some places, yes. On state highways in rural areas, where theres some civilization interspersed. Like a hospital campus here, then up ahead theres a college campus, a diner, and a shopping plaza with a Subway in it. They'll be on the prowl there, if theres no real local cops to speak of. They usually just roll through to show the colors, stop for a piss and a Coke. Then they'll sit for a while in the middle of a parking lot, and roll out after some people have taken notice.
They only patrol where theres no local cops. Some local police departments have closed around here, and the staties take over. Right up the road from me, theres a little town carved out of the woods, and they have cops. But if you live outside the town limits its the staties who'll show up if you call in a domestic -even if you're only ten minutes outside of town- wherever that town line ends, the local cops end. And if they show up, someone's gonna end up wearing bracelets. You can't usually white-wash them and say everythings fine now, they come from way out of their way to answer domestics.
State cops are usually much more professional, but a lot more serious when they get called. A lot of shit they don't care about, its a waste of their time to hassle a couple kids who look like stoners, they know they'll shake a roach out of them. They don't care. State cops make the arrests all cops should make, and ignore the shit all cops should ignore.