Long-serving Brisbane police officer, Senior Sergeant Corey Allen, is Griffith University’s Arts, Education and Law Group 2013 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year.
Senior Sergeant Allen was one of 26 people honoured at the recent AEL Gala Dinner and Awards Night at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Barrister Joshua Cream was named AEL Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year.
Senior Sergeant Allen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Justice Administration in 1995 and is the Officer in Charge at Queensland’s largest station and highest profile division: Brisbane City.
Hehas received numerous medals, awards and citations during his 27-year career with the Queensland Police Service, includinga Queensland Flood Citation, the State Bronze Award for Excellence (Operational Policing), the Award for Policing Excellence, the State Silver Award for Crime Prevention (Vulnerable Persons Strategy) and the National Crime and Violence Prevention National Police Award.
Nominated for the AELaward by the Head of Griffith’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Associate Professor Janet Ransley,Senior Sergeant Allen’s career has been marked by innovation and creativity in policing and crime prevention.
“He has also shown a sustained commitment to social justice and improving the situation of vulnerable people at risk of contact with the criminal justice system,” Associate Professor Ransley said.
“He is an exemplar of the knowledge, skills and values that the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice seeks to inculcate and develop in our graduates.”
Senior Sergeant Allen’s achievements are all the more commendable given the hardship he endured whilegrowing up. Police made regular visits to his family home and, later on, after a short stint in the army, he became homeless and slept rough in parks and an abandoned car.
Determined to get back on his feet, the future Griffith University student found a job pumping petrol and then as a legal assistant, all the while setting his sights on a police career.
With this background, it’s not difficult to understandwhy Senior Sergeant Allen has demonstrated such a strong focus on issues relating to youth, homelessness and public safety. Programs he has introduced include —
Project Patch, which aims to reconnect and stabilise the affordable housing community in Kelvin Grove to target drug issues, violence and assault;
Joined Up Street Team Patrols, in which police and youth workers conduct face-to-face, after hours outreach in the city, and;
The Vulnerable Persons Strategy, which seeks to prevent and divert people from homelessness.
Senior Sergeant Allen has also exercised a strong mentoring influence on junior police as they deal with the confronting issues facing so many in Brisbane City.
More than 240 alumni, friends, industry partners, staff and students attended the AEL Gala Dinner and Awards Night.