Police officers across Sussex are to be given new ‘Stop Stick’ equipment to stop suspects who try to escape in vehicles.
The devices are used to puncture the tyres of vehicles that are being pursued by police to slow suspects down.
They are already being used by roads policing unit teams and tactical firearms officers to stop criminals but now they will be used by neighbourhood response teams across the county.
Inspector Phil Nicholas said: “When suspects are being pursued they can put pedestrians and other people on the road in danger.
“We want to prevent that and using Stop Sticks allows us to slow down a suspect’s vehicle quickly.”