This is a mirror of an earlier tip, but with a few differences. I call it “tactical door locking.”
At the start of shift I press the unlock button and unlock all of the doors to my unit. Then I reach across and press the lock down on the passenger side door. From that point on, every time I get out of my unit I press the drivers side door lock down as I get out. This leaves the rear/prisoner doors always unlocked and will leave your unit secure provided you have a full partition/cage.
Then every time I go back to my unit, I simply unlock the driver’s door with a key. I cannot tell you how many times I see officers walk back to a unit with a handfull of suspect--cuffed or uncuffed--to place them in a unit only to have to stop, fumble with door keys, open the driver’s door, unlock the lock button, shut the driver’s door, then open the rear door...all while attempting to hold someone who may still be deciding whether they want to go to jail?
Try this and you will always stick with it.
A few other tips with this:
I always lock all the doors during any prisoner transport to thwart any possible escape attempts and go back to tactical door locking upon leaving the jail. I still lock the driver’s side door as I get out of my unit on traffic stops, but I roll the window down. This way if someone should break for the driver’s door to attempt to steal the unit they will find the door locked. Hopefully that delay would give me time to take them down. It also makes it easy for me--knowing where the handle is from doing it so often--to reach inside and pull the door handle to open the driver’s door in case a violator decides to flee on my approach.
Also, always carry a back up spare key...just in case.