By Tom Walker
In 1987, a tall, gangly 19-year-old kid raised his right hand and took an oath to serve and protect the island on which he was raised. That oath came after Allen had worked as a kid bagging groceries at Fausto’s Food Palace
Thirty years later, Sgt. Robert Allen retired from the Key West Police Department, having worn nearly every hat in that agency, and left a three-decade law enforcement legacy that only six other individuals in the department can boast.
However, instead of taking advantage of well-earned days of retirement and enjoying his passion for boating, from the Florida Keys backcountry to the Bahamas, Allen was not ready to hang his worn-out leather gun belt on a hook in the back of his closet.
Allen joined the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 26, 2017, working as an inspector charged with ensuring the agency’s divisions were following rigorous standards and practices as dictated by the national Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) as well as the Florida Police Accreditation Coalition (FL-PAC).
Then on Feb. 13, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay promoted Allen to the position of director of Internal Affairs and Professional Standards.
“I was happy to promote Director Allen to this position,” said Ramsay. “His background and experience in law enforcement make him a great fit and I know he will do well.”
During his tenure with KWPD, Allen worked initially as a patrol officer until a stint as a narcotics detective, during which he and his partner teetered on having their lives ended at the hands of a habitual felony offender previously released on bond for trafficking in narcotics.
On a chilly Key West November evening in 1989, Allen and Detective Sgt. Steve Hammers were on foot patrol at Thomas and Virginia streets in Bahama Village, at the time an area notorious for drug activity, when they encountered a suspicious individual sitting on the front porch of a vacant home where crack deals were a regular occurrence.
After initial contact, a struggle ensued wherein the suspect drew a weapon and shot Hammers twice in his lower abdomen. He then shot Allen in the groin and trained the gun on his face. Hammers, critically injured, was still able to return fire, saving the young narc’s life. But Allen was not out of the fight. Bleeding profusely from his femoral artery and immobile on the ground, Allen fired four more rounds at the attacker, who eventually succumbed to his wounds.
Returning to duty, Allen went on to a lengthy career as a traffic motorcycle officer, a member of the dive team and then the SWAT team. In addition, given his navigational experience and knowledge of security risks, on Sept. 12, 2001 – the day after the planes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City – Allen was named security director for the Port of Key West, a post he held for 10 years.
In his role as director of Internal Affairs, Allen will be responsible for monitoring investigations into citizen complaints against deputies and their conduct.
“If a citizen has a concern about the conduct of one of our deputies, we welcome that being brought to our attention,” Allen said, “It’s our responsibility to investigate any issue and bring it to the proper resolution.”
On the professional standards side of the house, Allen and his team must identify and verify the agency supplying the best practices to deliver services to the public and finding any deficiencies, whether through policy, training or other related areas. A daunting task considering the combined oversight agencies require compliance with several hundred daunting benchmarks.
“As a 36-year law enforcement professional, I’m very proud and honored to be part of an organization that maintains excelsior accreditation status maintaining the latest and best practices for modern law enforcement,” Allen said.
