Origins and History of the Private Investigation Industry

To truly appreciate the role and impact of law enforcers in society, we would need to go back thousands of years. There are many recorded contributions to the evolution of the law enforcement industry, both public and private, going back as far as the Pharos of Ancient Egypt, who employed mercenaries to protect their wealth and to control the population. The powerful Caesars of Early Rome relied on the Praetorian guard as both personal body guards to maintain order. The Old Testament some 3,600 years ago admonished, “Appoint for yourselves officers and watchmen”.

While the history of law enforcement can be traced back thousands of years, private investigation, as a specialized and unique occupation within that broader law enforcement community, can trac its origins as far back as the mid 1800s.

The World’s Very First Private Detective

The history of private investigation cannot be told without deference to a man generally believed to have been the world’s first professional private investigator, Eugene Francois Vidocq.

Vidocq was born in the northern French city of Arras on July 23, 1775. His childhood home was located on a street originally named Rue du Miroir-de-Venise, but was later renamed Rue Eugene-Francois Vidocq. 

Vidocq’s father was a well-educated man named Nocolas Joseph Vidocq. His mother was Henriette Francoise Vidocq (nee Dion). Vidocq had two older brothers, two younger brothers, and two younger sisters. His father was also a corn and then a baker and, by local standards, the family was considered well-off and affluent. 

Much of what we know about Vidocq’s early life is due to an autobiography published in 1828 called “MEMOIRS OF VIDOCQ. While the cover’s sub-title reads… “AS WRITTEN BY HIMSELF”, it’s commonly believed the book was ghost-written for him. In addition to his autobiography, there are also a few documents related to him which are preserved in French government archives.

Although affluent during his youth, Vidocq’s family lived in a rough part of town. Vidocq often got into fights and developed a reputation for being both strong and ferocious. By the age of 8, he bragged about being the terror of neighbourhood children. By his early teens, he also leanred to fence and quite accomplished in the art.

Early Life of Crime

Vidocq became a criminal early in life. In fact, amongst his first victims were his own family.

While working in his father’s bakery, he would often steal money from the till in order to spend in the local pubs. It was during this time he would become familiar with the local criminal class. When his father learned of what the young Vidocq was doing, he began to lock the till. However, this act seems to have only motivated Vidocq who, along with a friend who happened to be the son of a blacksmith, forged his own key to the till. Once again his father found out and put an end to that. Undeterred, Vidocq turned to stealing silverware and other items from his parents, and pawning them off for whatever he could get.

Vidocq’s criminal enterprise led to his first arrest as a teenager, where he spent 10 days in the local jail. What he didn’t know at the time was that it was his own father who reported him to police. While such an experience might have set others on a straighter path, not so for the young convict. Vodocq’s next caper would be bigger. With the help of a friend, he broke into his father’s bakery and stole 2,000 francs. His plan was to leave France and his goal was to reach America.  Vidocq split the money with his accomplice and each moved on alone.

From here, Vidocq spent some time on the run while trying to secure passage on a ship. While in Belgium, he met a up with a man who took him to a local brothel where he was drugged and robbed.  Finding himself alone, half naked and with almost all of his money gone, Vidocq needed to find some work.  He joined a circus for a time, but found that he couldn’t fit in. While in the circus he was sometimes beaten and often given very little food. He began to look so bad he was asked to pose as a savage cannibal who ate raw flesh. He left the circus and found other gigs, but nothing of any substance emerged.

Vidocq eventually returned to the town of Arras and was later able to reconcile with his father. He went on to join the French army where he gained a reputation for being reckless, aggressive and prone to get into fights. On two separate occasions he killed a man in a dual. 

In 1792 France went to war with Austria and while Vidocq took part in several battles, his temper got the better of him and he was court martialled for striking an officer. Facing imminent punishment, Vidocq deserted the army and later re-joined through a different regiment after having changed his name.  His new regiment was the 11^th Chasseurs, however he couldn’t hide and for very long, as his earlier desertion became known.  In spite of his past, Vidocq was forgiven for his crimes when a senior officer interceded on his behalf.

At the age of 18, Vidocq was wounded in battle and returned to his early home in Arras. However, true to his nature, he continued engaging in petty crime and spent much of his time either in jail or back in the army. He also married at around this time; however, the marriage did not last long as his wife was having affairs with other men.

Vidocq left his hometown again and, since he was still enlisted, deserted the army, travelled to Brussels, and assumed a pseudonym of M. Rousseau. After some time, managed to join the military again, joining a cavalry unit called ‘the flying army’. The flying army was a cavalry regiment intended to move quickly as possible. While in the unit, he caught the attention and admiration of a wealthy widowed member of the nobility who left him a sum of money in her Will. With this inheritance, he was able to support himself in a somewhat lavish style while in Paris, at least for a few months. 

Now out of money, Vidocq returned to a life of crime and was sent back to prison. While there, he learned the art of forgery. At some point, he became involved with a woman named Francine Longuet. She helped him escape from prison on more than one occasion (although he was always recaptured). Over the next few years, Vidocq spent time in at least 5 different prisons. He also managed a brief tour as a privateer on a Dutch ship.

In 1800, at the age of 25, Vidocq escaped from prison and again returned to his family home. By this time, his father had died. While he intended to remain with his mother, someone recognized him in Arras and was forced to flee and assume another new identity. Vidocq worked as a merchant under the name Blondel and although he had some success, he was soon discovered and had to flee again.

Finding it difficult to settle anywhere where his past would not catch up with him, in 1809, Vidocq was sent to prison again. I it appears by now he had grown tired of escape and recapture, and weary of the life he had been living. He offered to put his reputation and his criminal experience to use as an informant within the prison system. His offer was accepted by the Police Chief at the time, named Jean Henri. Vidocq was relocated to the Paris prison of La Force, where he met Franze Tormel, a member of a notorious gang of robbers.

Tomel was released from prison due to a lack of evidence against him, however not before Vidocq has gained his confidence and learned the address of his mistress. Using the details learned by Vidocq, police raided the home and found enough evidence to sentence Tomel and to arrest some of his accomplices.

Vidocq continued as a prison informant for a further two years. His handler, Jean Henri, realized Vidocq would be more useful if he was out of prison and able to infiltrate other criminal organizations. Staged to look like it was just another one of his escapes, Vidocq was finally able to live life as a free man, no longer worried about being arrested by anyone recognize him or suspect who he was.

As an agent of the state, Vidocq’s function was to collect information about potential crimes and to help arrange for the capture known criminals. In his autobiography, Vidocq lamented that many of the other officers were jealous of his success and were anxious to see him fail.

However, in view of his successes, Vidocq was allowed to bring other reformed criminals to help him in his endeacours. In face, he formed a unit within the police which he called the “Brigade de la Surete”, or the Security Brigade.

In 1800, the Emperor Napolean Bonaparte established the Prefecture of Police under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior, and broadened the responsibility of what had, until now, been called the gendarmeries.

At the time, French police were divided into two branches.  The Police Politique were the French secret police, dealing with crimes against the government. Regular police officers were uniformed and dealt with routine crime, both petty to severe. Vidocq lobbied his superiors and  convinced them his brigade should be in plain clothes. He also that on occasion when necessary, they should be permitted to wear disguises in order to infiltrate places regular police would have no access to reach.

He succeeded and, within about a year, his Surete was established as a unit of plain-clothed detectives with Vidocq as the unit’s first chief. Emperor Napoleon took notice of Vidocq’s unorthodox style and expanded the role of the Surete, also renaming the unit Surete Nationale.

So successful was Vidocq’s brigade that within a year, it officially officially became a unit of the detective division of plain clothed police. The unit worked under the authority of the Prefecture of Police.

As chief of the Surete National, Vidocq continued to personally train all his officers, going as far as donning disguises himself, such as a beggar, in order to demonstrate undercover techniques to his men.  Hundreds of arrests were attributed to Vidocq’s Surete and by some estimates, the crime rate in Paris was reduced by as much as 40%.

It’s a curious fact that throughout this time in his life, Vidocq was still a wanted man. It was not until 1817 when Vidocq was granted a royal pardon for all his earlier crimes by King Louis XVIII, the Constitutional Monarch who ruled from 1815 to 1825, after the downfall of Napoleon.

Vidocq married for the second time in 1820, although his wife died shortly after. Vidocq suffered other setbacks in his life as well. In 1825, his mentor Police Chief Jean Henri retired and was replaced by a new Chief named Marc Duplessis. By all accounts, Duplessis did not support continuation of the Surete, while Vidocq also met opposition from other policing authorities. It was felt Vidocq had risen in the ranks of police without every paying for his criminal past. Vidocq himself always maintained that the resentment against him resulted from professional rivalry.

Yet in spite of internal resentment, Vidocq earned a celebrated reputation and had amassed a good deal of personal wealth.  He often associated with the French elite including Victor Hugo and the celebrated playwriter Honoré de Balzac (although there were rumours Vidocq never completely abandoned his criminal pursuits).

Finally, in 1827, after a policing career spanning 18 years, Vidocq resigned from police at the age of 52. While Vidocq had constantly battled the then Chieve Duplessis because of his past, it was noted that Duplessis actually appointed another former criminal named Barthelemy Lacour, nicknamed “Coco”, as Vidocq’s successor.

In 1831, Duplessis himself had left policing and his replacement invited Vidocq back to the force where he had a short-lived revival as chief of the Surete. Unfortunately for Vidocq, allegations against him persisted, including an accusation that some of his agents helped in fomenting riots during French social upheavals. His men were also accused of theft. In 1832, he asked to resign, citing concern about the health of his now third wife. After his departure, new policies were drafted which precluded from employment anyone with even a minor conviction.

In 1833, Vidocq an investigation firm as a private citizen.  He named the organization “Le Bureau des Renseignements pour le Commerce”, which means Office of Information for Businesses. In this endeavour, Vidocq allowed his clients to access his impressive knowledge about many of the criminals then operating in France, along with the frauds they were known to perpetrate. When necessary, Vidocq would assign some of his agents to conduct direct investigations including surveillance, with many of his cases surrounding adultery and personal finance.

While information bureaus such as Vidocq’s had already made an appearance in parts of Europe,  Vidocq’s firm was the first to offer the added dimension of surveillance and direct investigations. It is for these reasons his organization is considered to be the first modern private investigation firm and why he is credited as being the first private investigator in the sense we understand it. While operating his agency, Vidocq once again maintained a policy of hiring ex-convicts, and many of his employees were actually former Surete officers who had worked under him before.

Understandably, Vidocq’s agency attracted huge criticism from policing authorities who argued that Vidocq was operating in a grey area of the law by conducting investigations, particularly criminal investigations, for those who could afford his fees. They saw this as a serious problem in law enforcement problem, and suspected some ‘illegalities’ by Vidocq’s agents.  While the agency flourished in its early days, continued friction with police led to some arrests of his men and seizures of property. The new Chief of Police, Gabriel Delessert, immensely disliked Vidocq and his methods and was happy to harass Vidocq when he could.

In 1842, Chief Delessert initiated a raid of Vidocq’s agency and himself arrested Vidocq, charging with fraud and accusing him of having made illegal arrests. Vidocq spent 11 months in jail.  He was released at the age of 67, by which time left the limelight. Eugene Francois Vidocq died in 1857, at the age of 83.

It’s been said of Vidocq that, rather than from his brilliance, his success as a detective resulted  from his impressive personality, his reputation, his intimidating appearance and his long-standing reputation. He was said to have gained the trust and confidence of criminals who would open up to him. More than that, Vidocq kept detailed and methodical records of all criminals he came across, and often boasted of his phenomenal memory. 

While still in policing, Vidocq recognized that most of his detectives did not have his gifts for thoroughness and exceptional memory.  While in the Surety, he began a system for creating a index cards detailing some of the physical appearances, distinguishing characteristics, traits, convictions, modus operandi and any other potentially useful information surrounding known criminals. Vidocq’s system remained in use by the Surete for many years after his departure.

Vidocq was a gifted criminologist and advanced the field of law enforcement in significant ways. The story goes that early one morning, Vidocq interviewed a suspected thief named “Hotot” and noticed that his boots were particularly muddy. He left the interview and made inquiries about recent burglaries. Sure-enough, there had been a recent event where a clear boot print was seen in the mud. Vidocq had an officer bring over some plaster, which Vidocq poured into the print, thus creating a cast. He later identified the print as belonging to Hotot, who was subsequently convicted of the crime.

In another highly publicised case, Vidocq investigated the murder of the late Countess Isabella d’Arcy. It was believed she had been shot to death by her husband.  Having doubt about the husband’s guilt, Vidocq secretly asked a doctor to extract the bullet from the Countess’ dead body.  After further examination, Vidocq proved the husband’s gun could not have possibly been the murder weapon as the bullet was too large to pass through its barrel.  Vidocq proceeded further in his investigation, and actually matched the bullet to the gun belonging to the Countess’ paramour, who would later confess to the crime. While his technique was radical for his time, Vidoque’s approach laid a foundation for the science of ballistics.

Outside of his own achievements, a further fact contributing to his lasting legacy comes from the fact that Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserable drew inspiration from Vidocq both for his main character, the convict Jean Valjean, and the policeman Javert. These characters were a to the two extreme opposites of his life.

Private Detectives in North America

The North American origins of private investigation as an industry are attributed to the life and exploits of Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton’s Detective Agency. Many will recognize their famous slogan, “We Never Sleep”. At its centre, the Pinkerton’s logo included an unblinking eye, from which the term “private eye” was born.

Born in August, 1819, Pinkerton’s father was a policeman in a poor and crime-ridden neighbourhood in Glasgow, Scotland.  His father died when the boy was young, leaving Allen, his older brother Robert, and his mother in dire financial circumstances. As a result, both sons had to leave school in order to work.  By the age of 22, Pinkerton established himself as a ‘hooper’, another term for a barrel-maker, while his brother became a blacksmith. In 1842, Pinkerton married Joan Carfrae and they went on to have three children together.

While a journeyman in Glasgow, Pinkerton became involved in a movement called Chartism, which focused on the goal of reforming the rights of the working class.  While mostly peaceful, there were some clashes with police, particularly as the movement had gathered over three million signatures on a petition to bring a motion before parliament (which the government ignored). A series of strikes and riots led to numerous local arrests of Chartist members. 

Pinkerton heard there was a warrant out for his arrest and, under the cover of night, he and Joan left Glasgow, finding passage aboard a ship bound for America. Pinkerton worked on the ship to help pay for the voyage, yet both he and his wife suffered great hardships on the crossing. Close to reaching the New World, their ship arrived off Nova Scotia and became stuck in ice, forcing all passengers to abandon their possessions and row to shore in lifeboats. The couple made it to Montreal where Pinkerton had to work as a hooper to earn enough money to go on to Chicago, their original destination.

In Chicago, the couple were taken in by an old friend of Allen, who also helped Pinkerton secure a job in a local brewary as a barrel maker.

A short time later, Pinkerton and his wife moved to a small town in Illinois named Dundee, which was populated by other Scottish immigrants. He built a house near the Fox River and soon opened a local Cooperage.  He did very well in his business, due mainly to his diligence and his belief in hard and consistent work.

A Twist of Fate

Pinkerton had no thought of working as an investigator until a chance event changed the direction of his life. Pinkerton knew of a remote island near his home with a species of tree which provided some very good wood for forming barrels.  While on the island one day in 1847, Pinkerton noticed someone else had found the island and had left behind a campfire. Pinkerton needed to know who the intruder was.

He returned discreetly several times but saw no one. Not satisfied, Pinkerton returned at night and found a gang of counterfeiters on operating on his island. He notified the local Sheriff, a man named Luther Dearborn. The two men set up a stakeout to watch the island and, once Dearborn had enough evidence, he formed a posse and arrested the criminals. Pinkerton got much of the credit for success of the operation.

Soon after, Pinkerton was asked by a local merchant to help identify another counterfeiter working in the area. Pinkerton was initially reluctant to do so, but agreed to help. Pinkerton identified a man named John Craig as the primary suspect. He managed to gain Craig’s trust and set up a meeting with him in Chicago, where Craig was arrested. Pinkerton began to feel that perhaps catching criminals was more interesting to him than building barrels. He was offered a position as a Sheriff’s Deputy by Luther Dearborn. He took the position and continued building barrels when he wasn’t needed by the Sheriff.

Pinkerton was growing tired of life in a small, religious town, particularly because he was not religious himself. He was offered a deputy sheriff’s position in Chicago, which he gladly accepted, selling his business and moving his family to the city.

He went to work full time as a deputy sheriff and gained a reputation for integrity and bravery. He also became a target for the anger of local criminals, leading to an assassination attempt in which he was shot in the back from such a close range that his coat caught fire from the muzzle blast. However, his injury did not dissuade him and in 1849 he was appointed the City of Chicago’s first-ever police detective.  He lasted on this job for only a year, citing political interference as the reason he was quitting.  Because of his stellar reputation, he was quickly hired by the US Post Office as a ‘special agent’, where he continued to attract praise for some of the cases he solved from many influential circles, including leading newspapers of his day.

Encouraged by the publicity he garnered; Pinkerton left his position with the post office to open his own detective agency, which he did with the help of a local Chicago attorney named Edward Rucker. The agency was initially named the North Western Police Agency but soon after, the business was renamed to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, based primarily on his name recognition. The company’s logo featured the tag “WE NEVER SLEEP” written below an unblinking eye. It is because of this image that private investigators would become known as “private eyes”.

Most of his work, and many of his further accomplishments came from the American railway companies, where Pinkerton agents had success in providing protection and investigating a number of robberies.  As Pinkerton’s business grew, he hired agents he could trust, including Kate Worne, the first female detective.

Shortly following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States, Pinkerton and some of his agents intercepted the “Baltimore Plot”, which thwarted an assassination attempt which came close to killing the new president as he travelled to Washington to deliver his inauguration speech. The story goes that Samuel Morse Felton, president of the Philadelphia railroad company, heard rumours of threats against Lincoln’s life. He knew Pinkerton from the work he had done on the railroads. He also knew that Pinkerton was an aggressive anti-slavery advocate who had once been extensively involved in the underground railroad helping slaves find safety in Canada and the northern US states.  Pinkerton had several of his agents infiltrate some of the anti-Lincoln, pro-confederate rallies and covert meetings going on, where they discussed details about the assassination plot.

In 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, Pinkerton joined the Union Army.  Due to his reputation and the admiration of Abraham Lincoln, he served as head of an intelligence network operating behind confederate lines.

In 1869 Pinkerton suffered a stroke, which prevented him from doing any front-line work. While he stayed active in the agency, the day-to-day operations were handled by his sons Robert and William Pinkerton.