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Biography of Allan Pinkerton

Gregory Williams

CJS/250 Introduction to Security

Mr. Jeremy Busch

June 24, 2013

Biography of Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton is the name that is often associated with private security in the annals of police history. With his private detective agency, he left an unforgettable mark regarding the private investigation not only in America, but across the globe as well (Dempsey, 2007). This was reinforced by the company’s logo of the all-seeing eye. Pinkerton was born in 1819 in Scotland, and his father was a known police officer. He was not destined to be a law enforcer, as he opted for other careers, but following the political upheavals that manifested in Scotland, he was forced to change his mind. His family had no option but to flee Scotland, and settled in Illinois where he ran a cooperage—a profession that had never crossed his mind. Later on he became a deputy sheriff and was mandated to pursue the counterfeits products that were being transacted in the region. His investigative career commenced when he was transferred to Chicago after his efforts were recognized. He was given a job in the Treasury Department from which he formed a private police investigation unit that dealt with railroad crime. In 1857, Pinkerton’s Protective Police Patrol was developed and it contracted out private security services to local businesses. The agency grew and covered an area encompassing five states. After some successful high-profile investigations, Pinkerton’s fame grew and agencies were established in other cities during the 1860s. Major events characterized Pinkerton’s lifetime as a member and director of Pinkerton Detective Agency. One such issue involved the American Civil War that was imminent between 1861 and 1862. Due to their private investigative techniques, the American army consulted with the Agency in order to recruit Pinkerton as an undercover officer (Steverson, 2008). He became part of the Union Intelligence Service, which later outwitted the assassination plans on Abraham Lincoln that was scheduled to be undertaken in Baltimore, Maryland. Pinkerton’s agents worked as sympathizers and confederate soldiers with an aim of gathering military intelligence information. During this time, Pinkerton served in numerous undercover missions and he was known as Major E.J. Allen. Later on he was succeeded as the head of Intelligence Service, which later became the forerunner towards the establishment of the U.S. Secret Service (Clifford, 2003). After the end of war, Pinkerton continued to be involved in Union Army through involvement in pursuit of crimes especially in the railroad. Some of the robbers that Pinkerton was pursuing include Jesse James and Reno Gang. He was employed by renowned express companies operating in the railroad, but Pinkerton failed to pin them down. This was a major setback to his career. According to Clifford (2003), the Agency’s innovation of photographing criminals immediately they were arrested proved significant in combating modern crimes. The police departments realized that having a pictorial representation of the criminal is vital as it necessitated tracking down of such law breakers. Pinkerton Agency, by 1870s, was the only private investigation that had accumulated the largest collection of photographs of the perpetrators. As such, it made them effective in disseminating and assessing information on criminal activities (Dempsey, 2007). The agents also used to clip out vital information that was available on newspapers and they attached to the file of the criminal. The police department relied on this private investigation report. In the case where a crime was committed, they would send the witnesses’ description of the perpetrator to the agency, from which a detailed description and photograph of the suspect would be furnished to the law enforcers in the region.

References
Clifford, M. (2003). Identifying and exploring security essentials, Pearson Prentice Hall Retrieved on June 23, 2013
Dempsey, J. (2007). Introduction to private security, Cengage Learning Retrieved on June 23, 2013
Steverson, L. (2008). Policing in America: A reference handbook, ABC-CLIO Retrieved on June 23, 2013

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