For criminals bold enough to break into them, police vehicles can be a treasure trove. They can contain firearms, less-lethal weapons, body armor, valuable electronics and more – bad things to be in the hands of bad people.
Now imagine the additional risk if that burglarized vehicle belongs to a SWAT officer. While patrol officers may carry a rifle or shotgun in the car to supplement their sidearm, SWAT members will likely have a much broader range of firearms – rifles, shotguns and special weapons, often heavily customized – and specialty ammo. They may carry various types of less-lethal weapons, breaching and entry tools, personal protective equipment like ballistic vests and respiratory protection, tactical and surveillance gear, medical supplies and additional restraints.
A thief who pillages that kind of vehicle can cause some serious havoc. That makes protecting the items within them a major priority for departments with SWAT teams.
At home or on the mean streets
That was one of the concerns on the minds of leaders at the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana several years ago as they cycled through a series of vehicle cargo storage solutions. They wanted something that was well-constructed, durable and secure, and ideally provided some flexibility in how things were carried.
The department’s 20-member SWAT team fulfills several important roles. While violent crime in St. John Parish is lower than the national average, the area – just west of New Orleans – is subject to hurricanes and flooding, and St. John’s SWAT officers often venture into the Big Easy to support their counterparts there.
“Whether it’s a quick-response force for dignitaries coming in or mutual aid for different complex operations, we do assist them,” said Captain Jake Boudreaux, who’s been with the St. John SO since 2005 and commanded its SWAT team since 2020. “We were down there for the Sugar Bowl and provided security checkpoints after the terrorist attack on New Year’s Eve.”
At home or on the streets of New Orleans, taking care of their gear is an obvious necessity. The solution that ultimately resolved the team’s search came from TruckVault.
Members of the St. John Sheriff’s SWAT team drive an assortment of Durangos, Tahoes and pickup trucks, which travel home with them after their shifts. “Basically we have everything outfitted with top-of-the-line TruckVault units,” said Boudreaux. “Some of our other units in the department went with them as well, but the bulk are with our group.”
TruckVault’s range of drawer- and cubby-based storage and organization systems are made from sturdy medium-density overlay (MDO) with optional steel shrouding. MDO is produced by thermally bonding resin-saturated fiber sheets to plywood core panels, yielding a substance with the structural strength of plywood, durable surfaces, weather resistance and improved strength for holding screws.
To this TruckVault adds push-button locks with key override (or all-weather compression locks for its All-Weather line). The former are supplemented with Strike Guard technology, which adds steel strike and backer plates to hold the bolt in place.
For SUVs it offers a Base line that includes one- and two-drawer, offset and floor-based configurations. Its user-driven Responder line has larger stacked multidrawer combinations with map board and power options, and its Commander line brings together a broad range of advanced features for command and specialty uses.
A dedicated line is crafted for drone response. Additional lines for pickups include the All-Weather, Pro and Covered-Bed lines.
While each of these lines contains numerous standardized setups, TruckVault can also customize any cargo configuration to agencies’ vehicles and needs. It has measurements on hand for common models and can get them for others.
Keep your gear how you want
At the St. John Sheriff’s Office, as the other storage products deputies tried weren’t quite meeting their needs, Boudreaux and his colleagues saw an ad and reached out to TruckVault.
“We tried a lot of the other boxes – basically just the thin-skin pressed aluminum or pressed sheet metal that you can just stick a pry bar in and pry right open,” said Boudreaux. “They don’t have any kind of inside liner, no power, no configurability options – you just kind of have to build them out yourself. That really wasn’t working. We can’t have them broken into, and a lot of the boxes just wouldn’t last.”
TruckVault configured builds to St. John’s range of vehicles and met needs like built-in power strips and inverters, drawer lighting, and magazines for explosives and flash-bangs. “They were just super accommodating in building exactly what we asked for and getting us exactly what we needed for our guys,” added Boudreaux.
From the first vehicle (a Tahoe), it was a streamlined process. The department called TruckVault with the model and year and an idea of what they wanted for it. They talked through options like drawer heights and divider placements. The company shared some CAD sketches as it developed its model to ensure it was developing what the client wanted, then went right into production once that was approved. Production took a few weeks.
St. John deputies get new vehicles every couple of years through a fleet-lease program, and their TruckVault products are ordered up front along with lighting packages, computer accessories and other key adds.
The department doesn’t have a lot of mandates for gear storage among its SWAT officers; as quickness and efficiency matter during responses, deputies are given latitude to arrange their gear in a way that’s smooth and useful for them.
“Each individual is different, so I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all mold,” said Boudreaux. “Some guys like to keep their long guns going parallel with the vehicle, others like to keep them perpendicular. I don’t really dictate exactly how they have to keep their things, as long as they’re secured within the divider and their boxes have all the equipment necessary to complete day-to-day activities.”
For his pickup, Boudreaux chose a double-Magnum-height drawer set that’s roughly 5½ feet wide, divided vertically for a rifle and other equipment (vest, helmet, gas mask) on one side and supplies (uniforms, MREs, etc.) on the other. He straps breaching equipment to the top.
‘You’re not going to hurt ’em’
That setup keeps things dry and maintained, even against the volatile weather conditions of the Gulf Coast.
“We’ve never had any kind of equipment issues whatsoever,” Boudreaux said. “Our rifles maintain zero, our charges stay good longer, we’ve never had any moisture issue with flash-bangs or any of our gear or ammunition. Just normal stuff like the little bit of surface rust you might get in Louisiana when the humidity is 110%. We don’t have any of the neglect or damage issues you can have keeping stuff in a duffel bag or just piled in the trunk.
“You absolutely get what you pay for. You can beat on these things, bang on them, you can stand on the drawers, throw them around – you’re not going to hurt ’em. Especially if you’re sticking with the same kind of make and model of vehicle, these things will probably last an officer’s career.”
For more information, visit TruckVault.