Safety restraint device for police vehicle

A method of restraining a prisoner on a vehicle seat within a rear passenger compartment of a vehicle having a first coupling position located adjacent to the vehicle seat, a second coupling position forward of the vehicle seat and a passenger compartment door having a blocking flange, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a prisoner restraint system having a retractor disposed at a center mount seat location, the retractor including a mode switching mechanism capable of changing the mode of operation of the retractor between an automatic locking retractor mode and an emergency locking retractor mode in response to an amount of seat belt webbing extracted from the retractor and seat belt webbing operatively coupled to said retractor, a seat belt tongue coupled to said seat belt webbing;
• placing the prisoner on the vehicle seat;
• releasably locking the tongue at the first coupling position;
• protracting the webbing from the retractor to engage the automatic locking retractor mode;
• releasing the webbing so as to restrain the prisoner against the vehicle seat;
• and
• positioning the blocking flange adjacent to the first coupling location to prevent the release of the tongue from the first coupling position.

A police vehicle having a rear passenger compartment configured to transport a prisoner comprising:

• a vehicle seat within the rear passenger compartment having a center mount location;
• a vehicle door;
• a blocking flange disposed on at least one of the vehicle door or the vehicle seat;
• a retractor disposed at the center mount location;
• seat belt webbing operatively coupled to said retractor;
• a seat belt tongue coupled to said seat belt webbing;
• and
• wherein the rear passenger compartment defines a first coupling position located adjacent to the vehicle seat and a second coupling position located forward of the seat, said first and second coupling positions being configured to restrain the tongue and wherein the retractor is configured to resist movement of the prisoner while the seat belt tongue is in the first coupling position and wherein the blocking flange is disposed adjacent to the first coupling location to prevent release of the tongue by the passenger when the door is in a closed position.