POLICE chiefs want to spend nearly £340,000 on increasing the number of cells available in North Yorkshire, so more bobbies can go back on frontline duty rather than having to ferry prisoners around the county.

The move would include reopening currently unused cells at Selby police station during busy times, and would stop York-based officers having to take prisoners as far away as Harrogate, Northallerton and even Skipton in order to find cell space.

A York member of police watchdog, the North Yorkshire Police Authority, Coun Ruth Potter, recently called for an increase in cell capacity to stop officers being used "taxi drivers" on busy shifts.

Senior officers say pressure is building up on existing cell facilities, particularly the "centralised custody suites" at York, Scarborough, Harrogate and Northallerton, because of the impact of the force's efforts to target violent crime, and because "improved criminal investigation" has led to suspects spending longer periods in custody.

In a report to the police authority, the force's chief constable, Della Cannings said: "The demand for cells has increased for the period of Thursday to Monday mornings.

"It has been in this period that centralised custody suites have reached capacity, resulting in some movements of detainees to other centralised custody suites.

"Whilst this has occurred at all the centralised suites, the greatest demand is currently on the York site within the Central Area.

"In recent months officers have been required to transport prisoners from York to Harrogate, Northallerton and Skipton. This has implications in terms of cost and the tasking of operational police officers."

Ms Cannings says officers have considered multi-occupancy of cells, but are restricted by the condition of prisoners and the risks they may pose to themselves and others.

She says there are six cells for males at Selby, two for females and one for youths, but the centralised custody team cannot make use of these cells permanently because staffing levels are based on the four present sites.

Members of North Yorkshire Police Authority will be urged on Friday to back a scheme which would mean increasing the number of officers available to run the centralised facilities, from 12 to 17 sergeants and eight to 12 detention officers, at a cost of £338,000.

This would allow cover to be provided using the Selby cells between 10pm on Thursdays and 6am on Mondays.

Ms Cannings' report says the only other options for meeting the increased demand in the short-term is to provide five additional sergeants in Selby district at a cost of £250,000 - but she says this would "have a greater impact on delivering operational policing".

Coun Potter said today: "This is an excellent proposal, and one that I very much welcome and support.

"These measures will stop police officers driving detainees around the county looking for somewhere to put them. They will put frontline officers back onto the street, making much better use of police time."

Updated: 10:21 Monday, July 25, 2005