What unfortunate individual get's stuck with the task of cleaning up
the back seat area of the cruiser. Really, that must be one NASTY job.

Spit, blood, urine, puke...what else, I can only imagine.

Is this duty sub-contracted out, is it a matter of seniority, do you draw
straws...or is it your own responsibility to keep your vehicle "clean."  

Many moons ago, I used to work for a towing/repair shop that had a towing
contract with the local and State Police PD's...eye-witness to some pretty
horrific scenes.

Motorcycle accidents were the worst...hard to stomach. I remember asking an
insurance adjuster what all the "blue" streaks were covering a white Volkswagen
Rabbit (as it had been T-boned by a yellow Yamaha motorcycle.) His response,
"driver of the motorcycles blue jeans." (apparently they leave a mark)

After EMT's arrived and left in a hurry with a DOA, there was much clean up to
take care of. Very vividly remember a State Trooper tossing a bloody helmet
into the back seat of his cruiser, along with other personal possessions left
behind at the scene. (wallet, shoes, jeans...whatever EMT's didn't take along)

It was a time/job that I'll never forget, hook it and secure it...drop it off, back at
the shop.

So it's a rather belated question, but I've always wondered.

We have a convict from the local state prison that we use as a trustee for that type of work.  The back seat does get quite nasty on occasion.

The Trustee's at the County Lock-up get it.  These are also the same people that hand out the food to the newly arrived inmates, so it all works out in the end.

Convicts get the job.

Many patrol cars now come with hard-plastic bench type backseats that are easier to clean but more importantly a suspect can't hide something between the seat cushions like regular cars. We were taught to check the hackseat for anything at the end of every shift (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth )

Usually, it's up to the individual officer. Especially if you have your own patrol car that you take home with you at the end of your shift. There's always the city garage if its really bad (or you can send out some poor trustee to detail your car for you!)

There are also professional "Restoration" companies who can clean up a crime scene after it has been released. (Never heard of them doing a car, though...) They do a great job on homicides, etc (have you ever seen what a Wingmaster will do to a jilted spouse from across the bedroom?)

That would be the part of the jizzmoppers job.

When I was in highschool my Dad got my buddy a summer job doing it.

Not a cop, but a FF and we do most of the scene cleanup. We remove the big chunks from the roadway and dump what we can in the car. The biohazard stuff gets put in a biobag and taken to an appropriate drop off point. Vital bits and pieces get sent to the E.R. with the victim if at all possible.

I THINK that local cops do a gross decon themselves. So they clean up the big chunks in the back of the car. Some of the local agencies use inmates to wash cop cars, maybe they do some interior cleanup too.