Do police cars have specially designed seats to accommodate the officer’s gun/utility belt?
They tote around a lot of stuff. Seems the pistol alone would make sitting and buckling up very uncomfortable. Then add cuffs a flash light extra ammo pepper spray and whatever else, and I would imagine it’s a real pain in the back.
Don’t know about the front seats, but the rear seat has a recessed area to accomodate someone wearing handcuffs. Also, the seat is made of hard plastic – very uncomfortable.
Umm, at least that’s what I’ve been told. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
In my experience, which is considerable if dated, the car seats are just as you’d have in any other car, although fabric seats were rare. Most departments have regulations about what is to be worn on gun belt, and how it will be arranged. Nothing, other than a case containing spare cuffs, is usually worn in the back. Anything back there wouldn’t be as easily accessible. It seems more uncomfortable than it is, or perhaps one gets accustomed to it.
Regarding the back seat, I’ve seen regular padded bench-style seats, the bottom part of which are easily removed for searching under the seat, and the plastic, one piece bench seats mentioned above. While, vinyl or other non-fabric material is important up front because of wear-and-tear, it is essential on the back seat for the sake of cleanliness and ease of cleaning (i.e., hosing out)
Hawk
No.
In fact, I know of quite a few retired officers who have back problems from years of having items on their duty belt pushing into them while they were driving. Handcuff cases are a big offender on this. Sitting straight up while driving helps.
Thanks all. One of the reasons I wondered about this the threads about CCW laws. I don’t carry, but I do know what it takes to holster a handgun, carry it and shoot. Now, my revolver is a 6" .357. Not something you would regularly carry.
But a 9mm or .40 is not exactly small either.
I’m 6’3" and 200 pounds. I drive a Pathfinder. It just makes me wonder that if I was wearing a pistol on my belt, just how much of a pain it must be with seat belts and such.
Seems like it would be really, really uncomfortable. And even with the extra gear, a shoulder holster would be better suited for this.
Carry on the side, an SOB or similar holster is both uncomfortable and hard to get to in an emergency.
Something like this works even with a full size 1911, although it can poke you in the side a bit in the car.
One of the cops who came out when my car got broken into got stuck getting out of his front seat (which looked no different to a standard seat) when his Glock got caught on something. Which seemed a bit disadvantageous when you’re driving around coming under fire.