Vehicle that's standard, with a criminal initially inside (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
panda car
'vehicle' is the definition.
(type of police car)
'standard with a criminal initially inside' is the wordplay.
'standard' becomes 'par' (standard of play in golf).
'with' becomes 'and'.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'inside' is an insertion indicator.
The initial letter of 'criminal' is 'c'.
'and'+'a'+'c'='andac'
'par' placed around 'andac' is 'PANDA CAR'.
'that's' is the link.
(Other definitions for panda car that I've seen before include "One patrolling" , "In official vehicle" , "Something with copper inside?" , "station wagon?" , "Police vehicle" .)