CASE STUDY 1: CALCULATING THE CAPACITY OF A

POLICE CRUISER

INTRODUCTION
The presented case study is focused on the calculation of the capacity of a police cruiser with
the help of geometry. The police cruiser is modelled as a rectangular prism and the
calculations for the surface area and volume is performed.

This case study demonstrates the significance of understanding the area and volume of
geometrical shapes in police work, particularly when determining vehicle capacity. By
acquiring these abilities, police personnel can ensure that suspects and equipment are
transported securely and efficiently.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Ahmad, a police officer, needs to safely transport suspects and equipment from his
department to the Central Office using a police cruiser. The police cruiser is shaped like a
rectangular prism, with dimensions of 5 feet by 7 feet and height 15 feet. The tools are put
inside boxes of different shapes and dimensions: 2 boxes each is 1 m by 1 m by 1.5 meters, 3
boxes each is 0.5 m by 1.2 m by 0.8 m, one cylinder of radius 0.4 m and height of 1.2 m, and
2 spheres each of radius 0.3 m. One suspect needs a space of 1 m3 to stand inside the cruiser.
Ahmed needs to paint the sides of the cruiser first with different color. One gallon of paint
can cover 5 m2.

TO FIND OUT
1) Determine the amount of paint needed to cover the vehicle.
2) How many suspects can Ahmad transport to the central Office?

PROBLEM SOLUTIONS
1) In order to determine the amount of paint needed to cover the vehicle, we first need to
find out the surface area of the vehicle.
Since, the vehicle is modelled as rectangular prism,
The surface are of the rectangular prism,
A=2 ( lb+bh+ hl )
Where, ‘l’ is length, ‘b’ is breadth and ‘h’ is height of the rectangular prism.
 Figure 1: Rectangular prism

So, the given data is as,

l=5 feet
b=7 feet
h=15 feet
surface area,
A=2 ( 5 ×7 +7 ×15+15 ×5 )=430 feet 2
We need to convert this area into m2
2 2 2
1 fee t =( 0.3048 ) × ( 0.3048 ) m =0.092903 m
430 fee t 2=430 ×0.092903=39.9483 m2
Now,
In the problem it is given that, 1 gallon of paint can cover 5m2 area of the cruiser.
Hence, to paint the entire cruiser, the amount of paint needed is
1
¿ ×39.9483=7.989 gallons ≅ 8 gallons
5
Hence, the amount of paint needed to cover the vehicle is 8 gallons.
2) To determine the number of suspects that Ahmad can transport to the central office,
we need to find out the volume of the vehicle first.
The volume of the vehicle,
V =l× b× h
3
V =5× 7 ×15=525 fee t
Conversion of volume into m3 will be,
3 3
V =525× ( 0.3048 ) =14.866 m
Now, we need to find out the volume of the volume of the boxes in which the tools
are kept.
2 rectangular prism boxes, l = 1m, b = 1m, h = 1.5m. volume of these boxes,
V 1=2 ( 1× 1× 1.5 )=3 m3
3 rectangular boxes, l = 0.5m, b = 1.2m, h = 0.8m. volume of these boxes,
3
V 2=3 ( 0.5 ×1.2 × 0.8 )=1.44 m
1 cylinder, r = 0.4m, h = 1.2m. volume of this cylinder,
V 3=π r 2 h=π ( 0.4 )2 ×1.2=0.603 m3
2 spheres, r = 0.3m. volume of sphere,
4 4
V 4 =2 × ( π r )=2 × ( π ×0.3 ) =0.072 m
3 3 3
3 3
Total volume of tool boxes,
V tool =3+1.44+ 0.603+ 0.072=5.115 m3
1 suspect needs a space of 1m3
Volume left for the suspects,
V ¿=V −V =14.866−5.115=9.75m3 ¿
tool

So, number of suspects that can be in the vehicles are = 9.75/1 = 9.75 suspects.
But it is not possible. And considering the facts that Ahmed will also be in the car
who will occupy some volume too. The number of suspects will be 9.