Police are carrying trendy rucksacks so they can spend more time on the beat.

Inside are scores of different forms they normally have to fill in back at the station.

Carrying them with them means officers can do the paperwork while out on the job, saving them several trips to the office during their shift.

Police in the Hove-Shoreham division are among the first to use the lightweight bags which also help spread the policeman's ever-increasing load.

Today's bobby now carries: handcuffs, torch, baton, radio, mobile phone, notebook, fixed-penalty tickets, stop-and-search and street intervention forms, disposable gloves, first-aid kit, and now, most of the 100 or so forms they normally have to fill in at the station for different incidents and crimes.

The rucksacks in some cases, are also carrying sandwiches and flasks.

Chief Inspector Stuart Harrison said: "The rucksacks are like mini mobile offices and some officers are finding them handy to carry their lunches."

Senior officers are also raising their profiles in the community.

Mr Harrison and Superintendent Graham Cox, divisional commander, held a management meeting in a seafront cafe in Hove recently.

Mr Harrison took time out to book two cyclists who were illegally riding on the promenade.

The rucksack is the brainchild of Sgt Dave Bettiss. He said: "There is so much you have to carry around on the beat, especially all the paperwork and files."