...Allan Pinkerton Biography CJS/250 Michael Nappi April 17, 2011 Robert Krause Allan Pinkerton was born on August 25, 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland and died on July 1, 1884 in Chicago, Illinois. He was born the son of a police Sergeant however his father would pass away when Allan was still just a small child. This left his family living in great poverty, and Allan would eventually become a cooper by trade. However his actions as a Chartism would lead to a warrant for his arrest being made, which ultimately forced Allan to leave the country. He ended up here in the United States settling in Chicago but living in a town called Dundee, Kane County just a year after. There he once again found himself a cooper by trade, but this wasn’t to be for very long as he would eventually become a police officer. It was while working as a cooper that Allan came across a gang of counterfeiters in which he captured and then was appointed as deputy sheriff to Kane County in 1846. Four years later though Allan Pinkerton would resign as police officer and begun to organize a private detective agency specializing in railway theft cases. Thus the Allan Pinkerton National Detective Agency was born and quickly became known as one of the most famous organizations of its kind. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency had quite the few successes under Allan’s guidance, some of the more famous cases (included but not limited...
Words: 711 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allan Pinkerton CJS250 Allan Pinkerton and the Birth of Private Security. Allan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow, Scotland in August 1819. While he never meant to become involved in security or law enforcement, this career came about merely by happenstance. Mr. Pinkerton was a cooper-smith by trade, meaning he constructed barrels for breweries. Mr. Pinkerton ventured to a spot on an island to obtain the materials to construct these barrels and came across what he thought to be the encampment of some individuals being sought for crimes being committed on the mainland. When he alerted the sheriff to this camp, he teamed up with law enforcement to stake out the camp and fell into the position of detective. In 1849, Mr. Pinkerton became one of the first detectives appointed in Chicago, Illinois. In 1850, Mr. Pinkerton founded his own security and detective agency based on his principles of abiding by the laws of the land. Pinkerton had a partner at the beginning of this era by the name of Edward Rucker, who was an attorney in Chicago. The agency they started together was named the North-Western Police Agency and was later known as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. This agency is still in existence as Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations, a subsidiary of Securitas AB. Some of the major events that involved the Pinkerton’s were the train robberies that became prevalent due to the expansion of rail lines and the ease...
Words: 546 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allen Pinkerton CJS/250 June/6/2012 Jeremy Busch Biography of Allen Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton was born on August, 25, 1819 in Scotland, Allan’s father was a police sergeant, but died unfortunately, when Allan was very young. In Scotland Allan worked as a cooper, a cooper is someone that makes or repair wooden barrels and tubes. Later on in Allan’s young life he found himself involved in Chartism, this led to an arrest warrant to be issued for Allan. Pinkerton fled to the United States in 1842 and settled down in the city of Chicago. Allen Pinkerton stayed in Chicago for only a short while, he eventually moved to a town called Dundee, this place was located in a county called Kane, there he started his own cooper shop. Allan was asked to do occasional jobs for the Kane county sheriff office and he became very good at detective work and tracking down criminal. The Kane county sheriff department eventually hired Pinkerton as a deputy sheriff. At the age of thirty-five Allan Pinkerton was hired by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy, along with that job he was also contracted by the federal government and numerous other private employers to protect their best interest. In 1855 Pinkerton helped establish a railroad policing agency known as the North West Police Agency, he was giving ten thousand dollars to do this, Pinkerton was only Thirty-five years old. Due to the poor policing of the local police during Pinkerton’s time, he felt he could...
Words: 571 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton is a very important person who has done many things in the criminal justice field. Allan Pinkerton was born in Scotland in 1819. ("Spartacus Educational", n.d.). He was the founder of one of the best detective agencies. Allan Pinkerton was the son of a police sergeant who got injured on the job so he was not able to work, Because of this Pinkerton ended up growing up in poverty. His father ended up dying due to a prisoner that was in his custody. Allan Pinkerton ended up working as a barrel maker that eventually ran afoul of local authority over his membership in the Chartist movement. Eventually Pinkerton found himself being asked to be the Chicago’s first detective. With the growth of his new family and the financial stress starting, Pinkerton made the decision to open his own investigative agency. In 1850 Allan Pinkerton officially opened his first detective agency, in the heart of Chicago, called, “The Pinkerton National Detective Agency” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). One of the things that Allan Pinkerton did was that he promised to never except bribes, compromise with criminals, and also to help local law enforcement agencies. Though he would help he didn’t take all cases such as he refused to take divorce cases or any case that would case scandals with his clients. Around 1850 he formed Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, with the motto "We Never Sleep" and an unblinking eye as its symbol. This would lead to...
Words: 466 - Pages: 2
...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...
Words: 657 - Pages: 3
...Allan Pinkerton 1819-84, American detective, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A cooper by trade, he immigrated to the United States in 1842 and opened in West Dundee, Ill., a cooper's shop, which became a station on the Underground Railroad. Allan Pinkerton was a hard-working man, and realized that working for himself would be a much better plan for himself and family. His wish to improve his business led him down the path to being a detective. Pinkerton realized that good quality raw materials for his barrels were obtained on a small abandoned island close to town. He made a decision that instead of paying others to give him the materials; he would move to the island and get it himself. However, once he got to the island, he saw signs of occupancy. Knowing that there were some counterfeiters in the area, he construed this could be the hiding place that had long evaded officials. His discovery and capture of a band of counterfeiters led to his appointment (1846) as county sheriff and, in 1850, to an appointment as the first city detective on the Chicago police force. He established in the same year a private detective agency, which had considerable success in solving train- and express-company robberies. In 1861 he foiled a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, and in the Civil War Pinkerton organized and directed an espionage system behind the Confederate lines. (The Columbia Encyclopedia) In 1850 Pinkerton resigned from Chicago’s...
Words: 803 - Pages: 4
...Allen Pinkerton By Phillip Caudillo CJS/250 Instructor Mark Morrison Biography of Allan Pinkerton At the age of 35, Allan Pinkerton worked for the Chicago, Cook County Sheriff's Department as a deputy. In addition Mr. Pinkerton was contracted with the federal government to investigate numerous fraudulent and criminal activities, such as counterfeiting protecting the post office from robbery, and special operation assignments that involved detective work. In 1855 six Midwestern railroad representatives contacted Pinkerton offering him 10 thousand dollars for his professional service to organize and develop a special police unit specifically for protecting the railroad investment. Later this special police unit became known as the "North West Police Agency" (Bio True Story, 2008). During this time public law enforcement officials were having a great deal of trouble maintaining a secure-safe level of order and peace throughout most of the communities due to the increasing crime rates. Public law enforcements inability to protect and serve brought a great deal of negative attention and scrutiny upon most police departments. In return, this labeled law enforcement as an ineffective-inadequate means of protection. The failure of the police was the leading factor that gave Pinkerton the ideology to establish a private security business that would be capable of handling certain situations the public law enforcement had previously failed at. i n 1850 Pinkerton founded...
Words: 735 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allen Pinkerton Introduction to Security CJS250 May 18, 2010 Richard Knuckles With the rise of private and public police fighting with each other there was a need for some other type of security services. Allen Pinkerton took notice to what was happening and decided to fill this gap by opening up his own private security service. This service provided by Allen Pinkerton would offer services that the private and public police agencies could not offer. Here is some history about the man that revolutionized private security. Allen Pinkerton was born on August 25, 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland and died on July 1, 1884 in Chicago Illinois. Allen Pinkerton was a cooper by trade and was involved in Chartism which was a political group that wanted political and social reform. Because of his deeds within this group, Allen Pinkerton was to be arrested but he decided to flee from Glasgow, Scotland to Chicago, Illinois to avoid arrest. After several private detectives works which led to the capturing of a counterfeiting ring; Allen Pinkerton was appointed deputy sheriff of Kane county in 1846. Soon after his appointment he went on to become the Cook county sheriff. In 1851 Allen Pinkerton resigned from the Cook county sheriff’s office and decided to go into business for himself. He decided to open up a private detective business that would specialize in railroad cases. “The Pinkerton National Detective Agency became one of the most famous...
Words: 814 - Pages: 4
...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Biography of Allan Pinkerton According to Hunt (2009), “This is a biography of Allan Pinkerton a pioneer and a leader in criminal investigation. He was born on August 25, 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland to William and Isabell Pinkerton. When he came to the U.S. he became a member of Chartists, a radical political group that advocates abolishment of slavery, better wages, and women's right, and met Joan his wife. In 1850, he created a detective agency which is named The Northwest Police Agency and noted that his greatest accomplishment was the capture of Rose Greenhow. According to Pinkerton (2005), “Pinkerton did not follow in the footsteps of his father at first instead he trained as a cooper and educated to make barrels. In 1842, after he finished his apprenticeship, Pinkerton left his country to go to the United States. He remained in Chicago and put up a cooper's shop. In 1843 Pinkerton repositioned his business to Dundee, in Kane County, Illinois. He come across and detained a group of fraudsters in that year. The outcome changed Pinkerton's life. He became entailed with police work and was assigned deputy sheriff of Kane County in 1846. He soon transferred to a more like position in Cook County, with a headquarters in Chicago. According to Pinkerton (2010), “In 1850 Pinkerton left his job from Chicago's new police force in order to organize a private detective agency that specialized in railway theft cases. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency...
Words: 585 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Jada Schmal CJS/250 January 11, 2015 Vernon Hale III Biography of Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton did not start out in law enforcement but changed after finding a gang of counterfeiters. Began a detective agency which focused on railroad theft cases. Later, in Pinkerton’s career Allan moved to bank robbers, but still dealt with railroad thieves. Pinkerton began with a small group of night watchmen to offer protection for the night. Allan Pinkerton did not start out with law enforcement but helped support the family as a barrel maker. Allan Pinkerton settled in America in 1842, to set up a cooper shop in Chicago. (West’s Encyclopedia of America Law, 2005). After moving, Pinkerton discovered and captured gang of counterfeiters and this changed and soon became involved with police work. Allan Pinkerton became sheriff in 1846 in Kane County. Suddenly after the position was moved with headquarters in Chicago. In 1850, Pinkerton, quit as deputy and began the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. The agency focused on railroad theft cases that became the most famous group of its kind and soon after opened more branches in other cities. (West’s Encyclopedia of America Law, 2005). In 1851 and 1853, Pinkerton inspected fabricating issues for the U.S. secretary of treasury, and William Church, the region sheriff asked Pinkerton to save two captured girls from Michigan stated to be going through Illinois. The following year Pinkerton turned out to be...
Words: 683 - Pages: 3
...Allan Pinkerton CJS 250 April 2, 2011 John Feltgen Biography of Allan Pinkerton The name Pinkerton is synonymous with private eyes around the world. The son of a police sergeant, Allan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1819. His father was injured on-the-job and died as a result of his injuries in 1828, thus causing the family to live in poverty. For a short period he worked as a barrel maker to support his family. Then in 1842, at the age of 23, young Allan Pinkerton decided to migrate to the United States. He settled in Kane County, Illinois, where he opened a cooper’s shop that would eventually become a station on the Underground Railroad (Allan Pinkerton, 2010). It was just happenstance that Allan Pinkerton became interested in detective work. His accidental uncovering of a group of counterfeiters led to his interest in detective work and an appointment to Kane County Sheriff in 1846. Within two years of becoming an investigator, Pinkerton had racked up more arrests than any other officers on the police force. Just four years later, Pinkerton was appointed first city detective on the Chicago police force (Allan Pinkerton, 2010). That same year (1850) he opened the Pinkerton Detective Agency, an agency still thought of as the first modern detective agency (Pinkertons, 2004). The agency attracted national fame for solving train and express-company robberies. In 1861, during an investigation of a train robbery, agents from the Pinkerton Agency...
Words: 676 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Mona London CJS/250 Introduction Security 05/26/2013 In this paper, we will examine the life of Allan Pinkerton. We will examine how his history with law enforcement influenced the major events that involve the Pinkerton Detective Agency during his life. The last topic of discussion will cover the impact of the agencies innovations on law enforcement and the private security industry. Allan Pinkerton was born August 25, 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland. He began working at an early age as a cooper and very active in the Chartist movement during these years as well. When the Chartist movement was at a slow down, Pinkerton immigrated to the United States. (Biography Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency: PBS, (2009). Pinkerton settled based his new roots in Chicago around 1842. And at that time, he decided to join the law enforcement agency. During his law enforcement career, he was promoted to Deputy Sherriff. While in office, he organized a force of detectives. Who focused on the capture of thieves, who were stealing railway property and this was how his organization developed as; The Pinkerton Nation Detective Agency in 1852. (Clifford, (2004). Some major events that occurred during Pinkerton’s detective years were; in 1961 Pinkerton was investigating the Confederates sabotage of a railroad in Maryland, which had planned on assassinating the then President-elect, Abraham Lincoln on his way to the inauguration in Washington, D.C. (National Park Service:...
Words: 616 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allen Pinkerton Heather Smith CJS/250 08/02/12 Denise Mowder Allen Pinkerton was a man that people automatically respected. He was a man that had a sight for security and many different companies looked to him for help with their security problems and to make sure that their businesses were safe. He could also do things and go places that the public police could not. In 1855, he was asked by six Midwestern railroad companies to establish a railroad police agency, and at this time he was only 35 years old and a deputy of Cook County, part of the railroad police agency, and he was also under contract with the federal government to protect the Post Office from robbery, and called on for detective tasks. Pinkerton formed the Pinkerton Protective Patrol in 1958, which began as a small agency that had uniformed night watchmen. These night watchmen were contracted out to businesses to offer night watches for protection of their businesses. As businesses in the United States expanded, so did the private security industry. Pinkerton’s attempts to secure the railroad industry may have been the most notorious of these efforts. After Pinkerton’s death, his sons carried on the business, and a noticeable shift from detection to prevention began to take place. Labor problems produced riots and left industry leaders looking for the help of private protection agents to ensure protection of their industry and related property. Efforts to protect high-profile business leaders became...
Words: 520 - Pages: 3
...Allan Pinkerton was born in Glasgow. Scotland on August 25, 1819. After emigrating to the United States in 1842 Pinkerton established a barrel making shop on the banks of the Fox River, which was one of the portage waterways that led to Chicago. By an accident, Pinkerton discovered a gang of counterfeits making coins and spreading reproduced bills throughout Illinois. A few days later after watching the men Pinkerton helped Sheriff Yates bring down the gang. Impressing the town’s council with the arrest of the counterfeiting ring along with another gang. Pinkerton was offered a full-time position as an investigator. He relocated back to Chicago to defend the law with his family. By 1848 he accrued the highest number of arrest for burglaries and murders. He was soon asked to become the city’s first detective. In 1850 Pinkerton resigned from his job with the city as a detective to start his own detective agency. His detective business was named Pinkerton national Detective Agency, which provided detective services and specialized in capturing train robbers and counterfeiters. In 1861 while Pinkerton and his staff was investigating a railway case they uncovered an assassination plot against President Abraham Lincoln. Pinkerton met with Abraham Lincoln to let him know of his findings. Pinkerton decided to make changes to the Presidents route being that the assassins knew of the route he was taking. Abraham Lincoln’s itinerary was changes so that he passed through the city secretly...
Words: 552 - Pages: 3
...Biography of Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton was born the son of an injured policeman who could no longer work. So, when he was old enough, Allan Pinkerton began working to provide for the family. He then met his bride and fled to Canada. He had several different jobs before relocating back to the United States. He was hired on two different occasions by the local branch of the Treasury Department to pursue counterfeiters and once by the Cook County Sheriff's department to help rescue two Michigan girls who had been abducted. Pinkerton tracked them down and shot one of the kidnappers. This dramatic incident lead to a more-or-less full-time gig as a Cook County Deputy Sheriff. Allan Pinkerton had a long and varied career. Through his career he was called many different names, such as a traitor and a patriot. But most of all he was a detective. He founded one of the most famous private detective agencies in the world that still bears his name. Allan Pinkerton was responsible for the apprehension of counterfeiters and kidnappers, train robbers and embezzlers and radicals. Allan Pinkerton was also a prolific author, one of the first private eye writers. In 1850, Allan Pinkerton founded his detective agency based on his own incorruptible principles. His values became the cornerstone of a respected agency that still exists today. His reputation preceded him during the Civil War. He headed the organization responsible for spying on the confederacy. At war’s end, he went back to running...
Words: 396 - Pages: 2
