A POLICE officer who founded a community resource centre and devoted his spare time to tackling youth nuisance and fighting poverty is moving on to a new role in the force.

For five years Sergeant Dave Clarke has been a key part of the neighbourhood police team in Stanley, but now he is leaving the beat.

He was one of the driving forces behind Pact House, on Front Street, which was launched in 2016, and offers free meals to people using donated food.

The café also serves as a base for Pactivate, a Friday youth club for teenagers in the town centre run by youth workers.

The 43-year-old, who was based at South Moor, starts a new job as a control room sergeant at Aykley Heads in Durham next week.

The father-of-two, from Consett, said: “It is about dealing with incidents that come into the force control room and working out how we deal with those as an organisation.

“It has been fantastic working as a community officer, dealing with a variety of things and solving problems in communities.

“That is what we do and now we have a got a really good organisation like Pact House in place to offer support and help people where they need it most.

“I have made some really friends who had similar values to me and a similar ethos towards young people.

“I will miss working up here but am staying on as chairman so will still be around.”