THE new boss of the Pennine Division road policing unit which covers all of the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale districts, is Inspector Dave Shepherd (pictured).

He has taken over the wheel from Insp Dave Holden who has retired after 30 years police service.

Blackburn-born Insp Shepherd joined the police in 1975 and has served in various roles in Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley and Pendle.

He has worked on foot patrol, in traffic management, CID, crime prevention and more recently in intelligence. He was promoted to inspector in 1996.

He said: "I am delighted to be heading up the road policing unit and hope to continue the sterling work already done by Insp Holden and his team."

He added: "As well as road policing the job entails a lot of involvement with Burnley Football Club which is exciting especially bearing in mind their good performance at the moment."

Insp Shepherd, 45, is married with two children.

When he is not carrying out police duties he enjoys walking, cooking, gardening and reading.