Geographically the Hunter Valley is the largest command in the northern region of New South Wales. 

Mr Clarke will be in charge of 13 police stations as the local area commander. 

In 2009 Steve Clarke was transferred to Port Macquarie to become the crime manager. 

He said he has been lucky both within his employment and out of his professional life to form good relationships with people. 

He said he will miss Port Macquarie, especially his son and daughter who are 16 and 17-years old. 

Mr Clarke said he is incredibly proud of his children and it was a tough decision to make the move. 

As with any new change, Mr Clarke is feeling anxious but said it won’t be long until he finds his feet and falls into a new routine. 

He did relief work in the area in 2015 for three months and has already established good relationships with people in the force. 

Port Macquarie is only three hours drive away and Mr Clarke will be back to visit his children, surf with his mates and drink coffee in town. 

Outside of work Mr Clarke was a member of the Port Macquarie Surfboard Riders Club, where he formed strong friendships. 

Working in the police force employees have ways of switching off from what they have to deal with on the job whether they had been working on domestic violence cases, prohibited drug incidents or murders. 

For Mr Clarke his positive outlet is exercise and surfing. This is the time where he feels at ease and relaxed.  

He said issues of fraud, domestic violence and prohibited drugs were areas that are always going to have a strong focus for police. 

“In the Mid North Coast region there is an ageing population, and unfortunately the elderly are the people who are being targeted by scammers,” he said 

Mr Clarke said the region was in good hands under the command of Paul Fehon, who he credits as being a fantastic in his role. 

He said he believes that there exists a strong bond between the community and police force, something which has only increased over time.