Police have defended spending more than £20,000 on taxis to take home suspected criminals after questioning.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show Sussex Police spent £21,617 on cabs to escort people from custody in the 11 months to February 28 this year.

It is the only force in the country to shell out so much.

Only four others spent more than £50 on taxis for the same period. They were Surrey, £9,065, North Wales, £5,256, Dorset, £1,241 and Suffolk, £417.

Sussex Police said it had a "duty of care" to detainees. It does not provide all suspects with a cab but it ensures vulnerable people who do not have enough money to get home are looked after.

This includes sending people home from out-of-town custody centres such as the one in Hollingbury on the outskirts of Brighton.

Simon Burgess, leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said: "At first glance these figures are really quite alarming. I hope if they haven't already done it, Sussex Police will be doing a really good job in working out what they do in co-operation with other forces.

"I have no doubt it will upset people to think taxpayers are paying for taxis for criminals. I hope that Sussex Police will examine this carefully.

"People will be alarmed that seemingly the welfare of a criminal is put high up the police's concerns."

He said it might be that other forces were using police officers to escort home suspects instead, which could be a waste of officers' time.

The amount spent by Sussex Police on transport for people released from custody has risen by more 50 per cent since last year. In the financial year to March 31, 2005, £15,725 was spent on taxi, bus and train fares.

James Frayne, campaign director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Tax bills for the average family are already too high so police forces should not be adding to their problems by spending in this way.

"They should do all they can to help detainees to get home but under no circumstances should they be putting them in taxis and picking up the bill."

Peter Jones, chairman of the Sussex Police Authority, said: "It may be it's a more efficient use of resources to take people back by taxi rather than taking police men and women off duty to ferry people.

"One of the things we have tried to do over recent years is to ensure our police men and women are out on the streets of our towns and villages to protect the public. Using them as taxi drivers perhaps isn't the best use of resources."

In a statement, a Sussex Police spokeswoman said the force took the issue of managing detainees "extremely seriously".

She said: "Part of this is a duty of care extending to the circumstances of releasing people who have been in custody.

"For some years we have used public transport, including taxis, to ensure that the more vulnerable detainees are returned home or to a place where they were arrested.

"We do not use patrolling police officers for this. A number of our newer custody centres provide excellent, large capacity centres but are outside town centres.

"When we opened these centres we were aware of our duty of care to detainees and to businesses and residents in the surrounding area.

"As such we consider a number of issues when releasing someone from detention and this process has been endorsed by recently-published national guidance on safer detention.

As ever we review costs and look for chances to save money. We are planning to trial the use of bus vouchers in specific cases.

"We will use this information to review what other forces are doing but will continue to release people from custody in the safest and most proportionate way."