Herself the first uniformed policewoman to work in an English borough, Commandant Allen, the head of the Women's Auxiliary Service, has had wide experience of the training and operation of policewomen. During the War she trained and controlled 1,000 women for the Ministry of Munitions, and in 1923 she initiated the Cologne Experiment (in which both British and German policewomen were specially trained to deal with the problems of the occupied area) that first drew the attention of Europe to the utility of women police.