How police transports can be made safer

For decades, the transport of detainees has been a work environment problem for the police, both in Sweden and internationally. A new report from VTI now proposes several measures to increase safety for both the detainee and the police.

Using your seatbelt means you travel safely – but if you are wearing a seatbelt, and a detainee suddenly becomes violent, your ability to defend yourself is restricted. So you could refrain from using your seat belt but this increases your risk in the event of a possible traffic accident.

This balancing of the risks involved, put in simple terms, must be made by every police officer when transporting a detained person in the back seat of a police car.

“This problem has been around for a long time and has somehow become part of a police officer’s work environment. There are strong reasons to develop a concept that protects the accompanying police officer without compromising the safety of the detainee,” says Martina Odéen, lead author of the new study.

The report “Safe transport for police and detainees in police cars” is based on interviews, workshops and surveys with police officers in Halmstad and Eskilstuna and reviews of literature in the field. However, this is relatively limited – despite the fact that the problem is well known, few previous studies have been carried out.

A number of possible solutions to increase safety have been developed and evaluated in the project. The ideas that have been judged to be the best are a polycarbonate cage, a shackle from the roof of the vehicle and an inverted seat belt with a guide (see images). The polycarbonate cage is similar to the one already being used in police buses. It works well in the buses, but the space in police cars may be too limiting.

The different solutions have been evaluated based on factors such as police safety, the detainee’s safety, surveillance, flexibility, and ease of use. The concept should not only be safe, but also flexible enough to ensure that it is used.

“I think the problem can be solved. But this study is only the first step. A lot of work and more tests are needed to find the very best concept,” says Martina Odéen.

The focus of the study is on police officers. But other groups, such as customs officials, also need to be able to transport detainees safely. The report also includes survey responses from police officers in eight European countries. All relate the same experiences and problems as the Swedish police officers.

Text: Mikael Sönne

The report (in Swedish): Säker transport för polis och omhändertagen i polisbil (DIVA) External link.

The images below show the three concepts that have so far been deemed most suitable. Belt with guide, shackle from the roof and polycarbonate cage.