During his 27 years in the force, Queensland Senior Sergeant Corey Allan has developed several grassroots programmes with social issues and at-risk people at the core. Parts of his own childhood were less than idyllic, and as a young person he also spent some time homeless, living on his wits and sleeping rough. Three years ago he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for policing and crime prevention and he travelled to New Zealand and other countries to look at how homeless youth were being helped.