Kids in Car Seats in a police car???

How would you feel? Dh had gotten a new job as a county sheriff deptuty, we are thrilled as this is the job he has wanted for So so long!! So with the job comes a car that may be used as a personal car, there for we are going to be selling our Dodge intrepid and leaves me driving the Land Rover full time and dh with this police car full time. Since i'm buying my kids all new car seat to stay in the land rover full time he asked if i woudl be keeping the other seats in the storage room of our home for him to use when needed in the police car?? Like when he would have to pick up the kids from school, ect. OR if we didn't feel like driving our gas hogging land rover somewhere, like into his moms for dinner, ect or walmart for our monthly shopping trip, ect we could use the police car...
My only consern is that there is the thick plastic between the front and back seat leaving nothing except a very small 1 foot by 10inches sliding door on the front passanger side for me to be able to reach back to the kids and i woudl only be able to reach the child right behind the passanger seat not the middle or behind the driver seat... his point was that i rearly ever need to mess with the kids while we are driving but it's just kinda odd i think... although it would save us a lot on gas, but what do you thinK???
Thanks!~

No, he can not safely transport children in the cruiser. In a crash they will impact the divider.

well that stinks... i guess we might need to re think getting rid of the other car... the deptment told him they didn't see any problem in it... that's not good if other officers have kids in the back

No, it's not ever safe to have kids in a patrol car with a divider. Most agencies make a pretty good job of telling officers this, but not everyone listens.

well i guess i'm just have make him get the word, out that is awful, our CSPT aren't the greastest around here, but for goodness sacks one of them is married to a city police officer you think she woudl ahve let the dept know...

You would think - there's a section about it in our training course.

my car broke down one time in the middle of a busy intersection in a tough neighborhood, and my older daughter was maybe 2 or 3. the cop that came transported us to the police station to make phone calls (this was 8yrs ago - no cell phone) and the police car didnt even have seatbelts! i was so worried and of course he drove like a nut. didn't have many options though.

How does the divider create a problem for using carseats ?

Federal standards only allow a certain amount of head excursion (28" with tether, IIRC). The divider is closer to the back seat than this distance, so in a crash, the child's head will hit the divider--not a good thing.

I was thinking that the devider was farther then 28inches it's right up against the front seats... no where close to the back seats, the car has three tethers and is latch equiped, that's why i was thinking it was ok...

A measuring tape may be handy. But it's 28" IF tethered and IF, and here's the big one, it's used correctly. So 28" is your best bet. Without a tether (it may have LATCH and tether, but not all seats have or use that) you're looking at 32" as a best bet. I don't know how boosters go. I don't know if I'd ride in the back of a police car with just a three point seatbelt.

RFing seats are acceptable, since there's no head excursion to worry about.

Wendy

Is it a crown victoria? I'm terrified of those cars. (probably irrationally, but still).

I asked my class instuctor the RFing question. I said, "Well, couldn't you put a child in a RFing seat in a police car with the divider because their head wouldn't impact the divider?" She said no. She said that the seat would hit the divider and that would be bad too.

I do think it would be SAFER than FFing, and in any emergency where I had to ride in a police car I would I guess just hope for the best, but I wouln't ride in one with a divider unless it was an emergency.