PC Chris Bell is a police officer with bigger ideas of what it means to wear the uniform.

As campus officer for Drumchapel High for the past three years, he is very much part of daily life inside and outside of school, but last year he spotted a need within the community and decided to do something about it.

PC Bell, 41, launched his clothes bank last year and it is now helping those in need locally, across Glasgow and even beyond.

Whether they are Drumchapel families or prisoners being released from Barlinnie or Greenock jails, they can get clothes they need through referrals by front-line agencies.

Just a few feet away from the main office of the high school is a room packed with clothes for sorting, ironing and distribution. It’s a tiny space but is not limiting to the care going into this programme.

“Space is at a premium,” he says. “But we’re getting a positive ethos in here and spreading it in the local community.”

The clothes bank started in March 2015 after a community safety week along with Knightswood Secondary led to a clothes and toys drive. It got PC Bell and others thinking about the need.

Gradually donations of clothes and railings came in and a space got carved out in Drumchapel High for storage.

And since then it has continued to grow as more hear about the idea, with PC Bell saying it is the only clothes bank of its kind in the city. 3D Drumchapel assists children aged up to five and PC says he takes care of the years beyond.

“My biggest concerns are storage and stigma,” he says. “What you have to do is run as support service and let people to make their own minds up.

“This is here if people need it – you can’t walk in off the street, it needs to be referral system.

“I tend to make up a care package and it’s packed up or dropped off and then nobody needs to know where it comes from.

“It’s done on the basis of what’s good for the individual.”

S6 pupils Bobbie Graham and Tammie Kinnon are two of the helpers at the clothes bank.

“There’s definitely a need in the community,” says Bobbie, 17. “People get bullied because some can’t afford manyclothes.

“There’s a lot of pressure this time of year as well. Some clothes here are new so you can give them new ones for Christmas.”

Robert Williamson, head teacher at Drumchapel High School, says the clothes bank is just one of many things PC Bell is involved in at the school. And the pupils too take pride in it.

“I think it’s a sign of the relationship between campus officer and ourselves. It’s about breaking down those barriers both of authority figures and ensuring they see us as a support.

“It’s a tragedy we live in the world that needs food banks and clothes banks, but it’s important we do our bit to help.

“For pupils it’s an opportunity for leadership and inclusion – these will be the future leaders of Drumchapel. Giving them belief in their own community, they want to stay and contribute.

“There are issues in the community but that doesn’t mean we can’t overcome these. This community is full of local heroes. They amaze me. They made sure there’s something here.

“In the past there has been too much parachuting in – we need to do things with communities not to them. This is not a high-budget thing, but it’s a big thing for people who need us. It could keep a family together. The only way we are going to build community is one person at a time.”

So where does the clothes bank fit in with the perhaps traditional image of policing?

“It’s about keeping the community safe and surely part of it is keeping them safe in their need – if clothes, we help that, if food, we help that, if it’s keeping someone safe and healthy by giving them a jacket, I think that has as much importance to people – and they see a bit of a person and humanity.

“For the young folk, they see me on a daily basis and I meet their parents and that does break down barriers. We’re just people doing a job in a uniform.

“Young people are involving themselves in support services for their own community. I think they become more socially minded – it gives them a wider view of life and life experience that they would not have had otherwise.”

In the run-up to Christmas, there is a need for more jackets and there are never enough small-sized waist jeans for men (sizes 28-34), but everything is tied to the requests PC Bell gets through.

Any spare money for the clothes bank goes on pants and socks, which have to be new.

PC Bell is dreaming beyond Drumchapel High for the clothes bank.

“If I had a dream, it would be to get premises outwith the school and set up almost like a social enterprise – a bit like Social Bite,” he explains. “You put your best stuff on eBay and have commercial washing machines and dryers to make money but also pay it forward.

“If I could click my fingers, that’s what I think I would be the best option. At the moment it’s a support service but a limited support service, limited by what comes into it. If it was self-funding, you could purchase items on a need basis.”