The new van needs only one officer to make an arrest

Officers are trialling a new van which only needs one officer to take a prisoner into custody, rather than two.

Police said the new system is faster and does not lead to one officer having to wait for a colleague to help out with an arrest.

Insp Martyn Ball said the new system should mean more officers are free to patrol the county's streets.

He said: "The idea of the smaller ones vans is that they are more flexible and they can be driven by more officers.

"Ultimately they can be used on a daily basis around Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

"This gives us an extra flexibility - (we) can deploy more officers and it frees up more officers' time."

Under the traditional system, if an officer on the beat needs to arrest a suspect, the whole process can literally take hours, especially in rural areas, police say.