Interior Equipment
The vehicles interior are all pretty much standard from vehicle to vehicle. They have cloth seats throughout, rubber floors, am/fm radios, A/C and usually power windows and locks.
There are no "cages" or partitions in the standard patrol vehicles. The troopers transport prisoners in the front seat, seatbelted in, if they are a single man car. A two man unit transports differently. There are several posts that do have 1 cage car for prisoner transports. The SUV's such as the Tahoe and Cherokee's have a wire screen partition between the back seat and the rear utility area.
All communications equipment is pretty standard throughout the state because of the new 800/900 Mhz digital system currently being put into service. Different agencies have different frequency bands so that is why most MSP cars have two radios. Yep, you guessed it, that huge antenna on the side of the cars will slowly be coming off as each post is upfitted. I think they look good on the cars and they shouldn't get rid of them! Its like the side-stop...tradition.
Troopers ride double at night so there is a mic for the Motorola radio mounted on each side of the vehicle for both troopers to access. Note the mic on the left side. That is a pretty unique item made by Motorola. It is a remote control head which controls the siren and radio! The officer can change channels, operate the siren and volume of the radio all at the same time. You can see the radar mounted on the dash.
The dash cam is also relatively new to the MSP. The camera is mounted under the visor next to the front mirror. There are mics mounted in the car and on the officer. The recording unit is mounted in a locked box in the trunk for safety of the video tape. The controls are mounted above the mirror. The officer can view the tape from the car. Depending on the shift the tape is left on for its entirety.
The Cherokee interior is a bit cramped as you can see. They are very technical on installs and this is a great and unique way to set up the equipment. Space is tight so the installer needs to be creative. Notice the switches cut in on the bottom of the dash.
