Fay Allen

For the Los Angeles school board member, see Fay Allen (teacher).

Sislin Fay Allen (born c. 1939), known as Fay Allen,[1] was the first non-white woman police constable in the United Kingdom, serving in the Metropolitan Police in London from 1968 to 1972.

Allen was born in Jamaica.[1][2] She qualified as a state registered nurse[3] and worked at the Queen's Hospital, Croydon, a geriatric hospital in South London.[4] She was married to a fellow Jamaican immigrant and had two children,[4] although one was probably born after her service.[3] She had always been interested in the police and in 1968 saw a recruitment advertisement in the newspaper, applied, and was selected.[4] The first black male officer, Norwell Roberts, had only joined the Metropolitan Police the previous year.

After training at Peel House[5][6] she was posted to Fell Road police station in Croydon, where she lived, on 29 April 1968, aged 29.[3] She experienced more prejudice from the black community than from her colleagues or from white people in Croydon,[4] and was met largely with curiosity and considerable interest from the media, although the Metropolitan Police did receive some racist mail about her appointment,[4][1] which initially made her consider whether she wanted to remain in the force.[7] After a year in Croydon, she was posted to the Missing Persons Bureau at Scotland Yard for a while before being transferred back to the beat at Norbury police station.[4]

In 1972, she resigned from the Metropolitan Police to return to Jamaica with her family. There she joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force.[4] Eventually she returned to England and now lives in South London.[4]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen, BBC, 2015
  2. ↑ "Sislin Fay Allen", Getty Images
  3. 1 2 3 "Coloured woman P-c for Croydon", The Times, 27 April 1968
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sislin Fay Allen Britain’s First Black Policewoman", Black History Month 2015
  5. ↑ "Jamaican Policewoman Joins Force", British Pathé
  6. ↑ "Sislin Fay Allen", Getty Images
  7. ↑ The Times, 30 April 1968
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