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Private Detectives and Investigators
The first known private detective agency, however, was founded in 1833 by a man named Eugène François Vidocq, a French soldier, privateer, and criminal. [link text]https://pvteyes.com/the-history-of-private-investigators-and-where-they-started/ -
Private Detectives and Investigators
In 1842, Vidocq was arrested on charges of unlawful imprisonment and for accepting money under false pretenses after solving an embezzlement case. He suspected a set-up but was still sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and a 3,000 franc fine. The Court of Appeals later released him. (link txt)https://pvteyes.com/the-history-of-private-investigators-and-where-they-started/ -
Private Detectives and Investigators
Meanwhile, in the United States, a man named Allan Pinkerton was making a name for himself as a criminal detective. After informing on a band of counterfeiters to the local sheriff of his town, he was appointed in 1849 as the first police detective in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. (link text)https://pvteyes.com/the-history-of-private-investigators-and-where-they-started/ -
Private Detectives and Investigators
A year after that, he partnered with a Chicago lawyer named Edward Rucker and formed the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, a company that continues to exist today under the name Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations. The term "private eye" originated from Pinkerton consulting and investigations. (link text)https://pvteyes.com/the-history-of-private-investigators-and-where-they-started/ -
Private Detectives and Investigators
In 1877 , Colorado became the first state in the union to institute licensing requirements for private investigators, as stated in the 1877 Legislative Manual. (link text):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_investigator -
Private Detectives and Investigators
The most notorious example of this was the Homestead Strike of 1892, where Pinkerton agents ended up killing several people by enforcing the strikebreaking measures of Henry Clay Frick. (link text)https://student.masteryconnect.com/ -
Private Detectives and Investigators
In 1893 , a federal law was passed specifically barring the government from employing the Pinkerton Detective Agency or similar agency. -
Private Detectives and Investigators
It was not until the prosperity of the 1920s that the private investigator became a person accessible to the average American. (link text )https://asginvestigations.com/private-investigator/history-of-private-investigations/ -
Private Detectives and Investigators
In 2001, the government passed the licensing of private investigators and private investigation firms in the UK over to the Security Industry Authority (SIA) which acted as the regulatory body from then on. (link text):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_investigator -
Private Detectives and Investigators
In December 2014, Corporate Livewire produced an article written by a UK private investigator at BAR Investigations, addressing the issues surrounding private investigation in the UK. (link text) :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_investigator