Chris Allen, Sheriff of NSW

Chris Allen was appointed as the Sheriff of New South Wales on 3 March 2008.

Previous roles

Mr Allen has more than 25 years experience with military, humanitarian and security roles in Australia and overseas, and most recently was responsible for managing the Sydney Opera House’s security preparations for APEC 2007.

He holds qualifications in Risk, Emergency Management and Policing.

Australian Regular Army - Mr Allen joined the Australian Regular Army in 1983 serving as an Infantry soldier. In January 1986 he was one of the first two Australian soldiers to be offered an exchange appointment with the newly created Officer Cadet School of New Zealand. He was Commissioned in December of that year and graduated as a Lieutenant into the Royal Australian Regiment.

During his time as an Army officer he held several operational, training and staff appointments. Following two years as a Platoon Commander with the 2nd/4th Battalion in Townsville, he served as a Recruit Instructor at the Recruit Training Battalion in Wagga Wagga. He was promoted to Captain in 1990 and went on to serve as the Adjutant of the 3rd Battalion (Parachute) of the Royal Australian Regiment in Sydney, Operations Officer of Headquarters 6th Brigade in Brisbane and was then appointed to a two year exchange appointment to British Airborne Forces, serving as a Company Commander with the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot.

He returned to Australia at the end of 1995 on promotion to Major. During his military service Mr Allen qualified as a Paratrooper with the Australian, British and French armies and deployed to South East Asia, Africa and Central America. He left the Army due to injury in December 1996.

CARE International - Between 1997 and 1999 Mr Allen undertook full time tertiary studies in Business and Security at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. During this time he deferred study to deploy to East Timor as the Security Manager for CARE International, a leading humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty. He served with CARE during the emergency phase of the operation to deliver security and logistics expertise to CARE operations throughout East Timor.

Australian Protective Service - He joined the Australian Protective Service (APS) immediately after 11 September, 2001, serving initially as the Security Risk Management Adviser. In this capacity he conducted security assessments and provided advice to Commonwealth government departments and branches (including diplomatic residences and offices) throughout Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.

Sydney Airport - In 2002, Mr Allen was tasked to lead the upgrade of Counter Terrorist First Response (CTFR) measures as the APS Officer-in-Charge of Sydney Airport - the largest airport and largest APS station in Australia.

Australian Federal Police - At the completion of these responsibilities, he returned to Canberra to undertake national level projects and to lead the national audit and vetting capability for the APS, in line with the merger of the APS with the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Sydney Opera House - In late 2003 Mr Allen was appointed to the newly created position of Head of Security at the Sydney Opera House (SOH). This was an appointment raised specifically in response to the post September 11, 2001, security environment. Mr Allen commenced the appointment in August 2003, with the responsibility to review, design and implement strategies to protect the iconic building. His $9m plan was funded in full by the NSW Government at the end of 2003, and in January 2004 during a press conference held at the SOH, then Premier, Bob Carr, personally announced the upgrade program that Mr Allen had designed.

During the course of the two years between August 2003 and August 2005 Mr Allen led the upgrade program which included physical modification to the heritage-listed site. At the successful completion of the upgrade, he was asked to lead the Opera House through the security preparations for APEC 2007.

Mr Allen is the recipient of the Australian Service Medal, the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal, the National Medal and the Australian Defence Medal.

The History of the Sheriff's Office of New South Wales