Like L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, Governor Schwarzenegger always travels with security when he goes anywhere.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger heads to Copenhagen next week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, his office will defend the trip in a deficit-plagued year by saying his foundation-backed travel won't cost taxpayers a dime.

But that overlooks one fact: Wherever the governor goes, a crew of California Highway Patrol officers travels as well, paid for by the state.

Expenditures for the CHP's Protective Services Division have tripled since Schwarzenegger took office, from $14.4 million during Gray Davis' last full fiscal year to $43.3 million last year, state records show.

While that may provide a general picture of Schwarzenegger's impact on security costs, it is impossible for the public to tell how much is due to having a celebrity governor who travels frequently and has a famous family. Besides serving the governor, the Protective Services Division protects state courts, other state buildings and most constitutional officers.

CHP declined a Public Records Act request by The Bee to disclose specific taxpayer costs for protecting the governor and his family, citing "legitimate safety concerns." Other states provide such information, and CHP gave The Bee the data for other state elected leaders it protects.

"Different people out there can take that number and extrapolate out certain information that could potentially put someone we're protecting at risk," said CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader. "We can't take that risk. We have to protect against every eventuality."

Terry Francke of Californians Aware, an open records advocacy group, said CHP's decision to withhold the governor's protection costs was legally questionable and based on precedents that dealt with more sensitive security details than spending data. He said it appeared arbitrary that CHP released the same information for other protectees.