Pinkerton: security sleuths call Van Nuys home.Pinkerton Security sleuths call Van Nuys home In the movie "Butch Cassidy This article is about the criminal. For the singer with this pseudonym see Butch Cassidy (singer). Butch Cassidy (13 April 1866 - c. 1908), born Robert LeRoy Parker, was a notorious train and bank robber. and the Sundance Kid" the beleagured Butch turns to Sundance and asks, "Who are those guys?" He is talking about a group of Pinkerton's agents chasing Butch and Sundance. The nation's oldest security firm - now headquartered in Van Nuys - was founded 137 years ago by Scotsman Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton (August 25 1819 – July 1 1884) was a U.S. detective and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton Agency, the first detective agency of the United States. . After emigrating from his native Glasgow in 1842, Pinkerton set up home in Chicago. His big break in sleuthing Sleuthing See also Crime Fighting. Alleyn, Inspector detective in Ngaio Marsh’s many mystery stories. [New Zealand Lit.: Harvey, 520] Archer, Lew tough solver of brutal crimes. [Am. Lit. came when he helped capture a currency counterfeiter. His reputation grew, and in 1850 he started his own investigative agency. As the company expanded, Pinkerton diversified from investigations into providing security. His agents were given the task of protecting the railroads - a task which led to their involvement with Butch Cassidy, the Reno Gand and other notorious train robbers of the day. The company has continued to be part of American consciousness into the 20th century. Dashiell Hammett Noun 1. Dashiell Hammett - United States writer of hard-boiled detective fiction (1894-1961) Hammett, Samuel Dashiell Hammett , author of "The Maltese Falcon," and "The Thin Man" and creator of private eye Sam Spade For the network-query tool designed to hunt down spammers, see . Sam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of the novel The Maltese Falcon (1930) and the various movies and adaptations based on it. , worked for Pinkerton in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . He used his experiences to write the books and inspire the movies that have become part of Americana. But times got tough for Pinkerton in the 1980s. Following a 1982 buyout by the Connecticut-based American Brands from the Pinkerton family, the company suffered increasing losses. In 1987, Pinkerton's was the object of a $95 million leveraged buyout leveraged buyout, the takeover of a company, financed by borrowed funds. Often, the target company's assets are used as security for the loans acquired to finance the purchase. . Thomas Wathen, founder and president of California Plant Protection, bought Pinkerton for less than American Brands had paid for it. With 125 offices and 20,000 employees, CPP cpp - C preprocessor. was the fourth-largest guard company in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Wathen slashed Pinkerton's staff, offices and equipment, raised rates, took guns away from guards to reduce insurance costs and sold off the $45 million nuclear division which had been losing some $200 million annually. Operating during 1987 with the transitional name of CPP/Pinkerton, the company reported an operating profit Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. of $18.7 million in 1988. The new Pinkerton has 55,000 employees, including 50,000 guards, and 153 offices. Wathen says his company provides guard services to 426 of the Fortune 500 and anticipates 1989 revenues to be at least $612 million. While 94 percent of Pinkerton's business is in contract plant security, the company also performs commercial investigative services - don't ask Pinkerton's to spy on your spouse - including background checks and pre-employment screening. A recent investigation revealed that 37 percent of job applicats for a particular position had falsified their applications. A background check covering the California Department of Motor Vehicles In the United States of America, Department of Motor Vehicles (or DMV) is a commonly used name of the government agency of a U.S. state which administers the registration of automobiles (e.g., by issuing license plates), and/or the licensing of drivers (e.g. , criminal and civil records, and consumer public filings (such as small claims judgements) costs approximately $150. It can be an excellent investment: Pinkerton's agents like to tell the story of the Illinois company that hired a long-distance truck driver, gave him a sleeper cab and sent him on an interstate run. En route the driver picked up a teenage female hitch-hiker and raped her. Not only was he convicted, but the girl's family sued the company, claiming it had furnished the rapist with the means to commit the crime. Had a pre-employment background check been conducted, it would have revealed that the man had a history of sex offenses A class of sexual conduct prohibited by the law. Since the 1970s this area of the law has undergone significant changes and reforms. Although the commission of sex offenses is not new, public awareness and concern regarding sex offenses have grown, resulting in the . One recent investigation requested by a manufacturer of garden products took a surprising turn. The company had received a tip that one of its employees was offering to sell its products to nurseries at half-price for cash. A Pinkerton agent contacted the suspect, who offered to supply him with brand name products. They set up a buy. It turned out the products the suspect was offering belonged to a different company. This company then hired Pinkerton's and the agent again set up a buy, this time for 2,000 pounds of fertilizer. He captured the transaction on videotape. A second, larger order was again recorded on videotape. It turned out the employee had been paying off workers at his company's plant, enabling him to steal whole pallets of merchandise. The investigation intended to uncover a loss of $600 a week resulted instead in the discovery of losses of $25,000 to 30,000 a month. PHOTO : Thomas Wathen: latest in a long line of sleuths PHOTO : Agents: Pinkerton is known the world over for its eyes |
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