A CALDERDALE police officer is swapping Halifax for Afghanistan.

Supt Stan Bates joined West Yorkshire Police in 1985 and moved to Calderdale as head of operations three years ago.

In August, he is being deployed to Kabul by the UK Stabilisation Unit to help police there.

Father-of-one Supt Bates said: “I will be working with the Afghan Civil Police with the aim of establishing sustainable and effective civilian policing in accordance with international standards.

“By assisting the Afghan people to achieve security we will ultimately make the UK a safer place.”