Eugène François Vidocq (July 23, 1775 – May 11, 1857) was a French criminal who later became a first director of Sûreté Nationale and one of the founders of the modern criminal investigation. July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Most of the information about Vidocq's earlier life comes from his ghost-written biography. According to it, Vidocq was born in Arras, France in July 23, 1775. His father was a baker. This article is about a ghostwriter, the type of writer. ... Sir Thomas Malory and sostie wrote the most famous fictional biography of the Middle Ages with Le Morte dArthur about the life of King Arthur. ... Arras (Dutch: Atrecht) is a city and commune in northern France, préfecture (capital) of the Pas-de-Calais département. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

At the age of 14 he apparently accidentally killed his fencing instructor and decided to skip town. He planned to sail to the Americas but lost his money to an unscrupulous actress. He ended up joining the Bourbon Regiment a year later. Russian Ivan Tourchine and American Weston Kelsey fence in the second round of the Olympic Mens Individual Epee event at the Helliniko Fencing Hall on Aug. ... The Americas (sometimes referred to as America) is the area including the land mass located between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, generally divided into North America and South America. ... Money is any marketable good or token used by a society as a store of value, a medium of exchange, or a unit of account. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ...

He was hardly a model soldier. He later claimed that he fought 15 duels and received numerous reprimands. Even during the war against Austria he continued dueling, although he also rose to a rank of grenadier corporal. In 1792, when a sergeant major refused a duel with him, he hit him. Striking a superior officer could have led to a death sentence so he deserted and moved back to Arras. A Norwegian soldier (a Corporal, armed with an MP-5) A soldier is a person who has enlisted with, or has been conscripted into, the armed forces of a sovereign country and has undergone training and received equipment to defend that country or its interests. ... A duel or duel of honour is a form of armed combat in which two individuals participate. ... A Grenadier was originally a specialized assault trooper for siege operations, first established as a distinct role in the early 17th century. ... Corporal is a military rank in use by several militaries of the world. ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the rank of sergeant. ...

The French Revolution was already in the full swing. Vidocq claimed that he saved two noblewomen from a guillotine in Arras but was captured and faced the same fate. His father got him out by asking the Chevalier family to help. Vidocq fell in love with their daughter Louise and married her when she falsely claimed she was pregnant. When he found out that Louise was having an affair with an officer, he left for Brussels. He acquired a false passport with the name of Rousseau. In Belgium he courted an older baroness and joined a band of raiders. He left later with a parting gift of 15,000 gold francs. The period of the French Revolution in the history of France covers the years between 1789 and 1799, in which democrats and republicans overthrew the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ... Public guillotining in Lons-le-Saunier, 1878 Badische Guillotine Portrait of Dr. Guillotin The guillotine is a machine used for the application of capital punishment by decapitation. ... Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, French: Bruxelles, German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium and is considered by many to be the de facto capital of the European Union, as two of its three main institutions have their headquarters...

Vidocq moved to Paris where he ended up spending all his money on loose women. He became a bandit and was arrested many times but always managed to escape. Once he tried to forge a pardon to a cellmate who had been sentenced to death. He also dabbled in smuggling. When he gave himself up to clear the name of a guard, he was arrested and sentenced to eight years of hard labor. When he was transferred to Brest for the use in galleys, he escaped again, this time using a disguise. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... These lollipops, above, were found to contain heroin when inspected by the DEA. Smuggling is illegal transport, in particular across a border. ... Location within France Brest, at the tip of Brittany Brest (population of the city: 146,000 inhabitants as of 2004 estimates; population of the metropolitan area: 303,484 inhabitants as of 1999 census) is a city in the Bretagne région, north-west France, subprefecture of the Finistère d... A French galley and Dutch men-of-war off a port by Abraham Willaerts, painted 17th century. ...

In 1798 he moved to the Netherlands and for some time worked for privateer Fromentin who raided English shipping. In Ostend, however, he was arrested again and sent to Toulon prison under heavy guard. He managed to escape with the help of a friendly convict. He returned to Arras in hiding. Year was 1800. 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A privateer was a private ship (or its captain) authorized by a countrys government to attack and seize cargo from another countrys ships. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Ostend ( Dutch: Oostende, French: Ostende) is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders. ... Location within France Coat of Arms of Toulon Toulon (Tolon in Provençal) is a city in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. ... 1800 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1801 he became a lover to the daughter of a town warden while pretending to be an Austrian. When constabulary closed in, they moved to Rouen. They lived there for two years until constabulary found them again. He moved to Boulogne only to end up in another privateering vessel fighting English ships. One fellow sailor recognized Vidocq, however, and informed guards in Boulogne. He was sent to prison in Douai. 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... An intimate relationship is a interpersonal relationship where there is a great deal of physical or emotional intimacy. ... Location within France Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northern France, and presently the capital of the Upper Normandy région. ... Boulogne is the name of several communes in France: Boulogne in the Vendée département Boulogne-Billancourt, in the Hauts-de-Seine département Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Pas_de_Calais département This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Douai is a city and commune in the north of France in the département of Nord, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ...

In Douai, Procurator-General Ransom convinced Vidocq to appeal for a re-trial. He waited five months – during which time Louise Chevalier notified she was divorcing him – and escaped again. Vidocq tried to live as a merchant in Faubourg Sant-Denis but a year later he was again behind bars for some time. His attempt to become a school teacher failed when he was driven out of the village for having an inappropriate liaison with his elder female students. Merchants function as professional traders, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves. ...

In May, 1809 Vidocq offered his services as a police spy to Paris police in exchange for an amnesty. Inspector Henry challenged him to escape from his guards and come to him to prove his honesty. He did. This article is about the month of May. ... 1809 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Amnesty (from the Greek amnestia, oblivion) is an act of grace by which the supreme power in a state restores those who may have been guilty of any offence against it to the position of innocent persons. ...

Vidocq began as an informer who listened to what prisoners talked among themselves in La Force Prison. Twenty months later police arranged his "escape" so he could work as an informant on the outside. Officially, he remained at large. When the underworld eventually begun to suspect him, he used disguises and assumed other identities to continue his work and delay suspicion. At one point he was recruited to kill himself.

Finally Vidocq suggested the formation of a plainclothes unit Brigade de Sûreté (Brigade of Security) that later became Sûreté Nationale. He had up to 12 detectives, many of them ex-criminals like himself, working for him. In 1817 he had a hand in 811 arrests, including 15 assassins and 38 fences. His annual income was 5,000 francs but he also worked as a private investigator for a fee. 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Jack Ruby murdered the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ... Fence with barbed wire on top A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. ...

In 1814, in the beginning of the French Restoration, Vidocq and the Sûreté tried to contain the situation in Paris. He also arrested those who tried to exploit the post-revolutionary situation by claiming to have been aristocrats. 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Following the ouster of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, the Allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty to the French throne. ... Aristocracy is a form of government in which rulership is in the hands of an upper class known as aristocrats. ...

Vidocq's mother died in 1820. Her requiem was kept in Notre Dame Cathedral. At the same year, Vidocq married Jeanne-Victoire Guerin who died only four years later. He married Fleuride Maniez sometime in the 1820s. Still he maintained a reputation as a ladies man. 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. ... Events and Trends Nationalistic independence movements helped reshape the world during this decade: Greece declares independence from the Ottoman Empire (1821). ...

In 1824 and following his coronation, Charles X of France turned the police force into his own political weapon against dissenters and would-be-rebels. Vidocq came under observation, suspected of Bonapartist sympathies due to his acquaintances. When a new superior Duplessis complained about an apparently trivial matter, he resigned. In 1830 Duplessis' replacement Henri-Joséphe Gisquet reinstalled him. 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Charles X, King of France and of Navarre (October 9, 1757 – November 6, 1836) was born at the Palace of Versailles. ... Bonaparte as general Napoleon Bonaparte ( 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution and was the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from November 11, 1799 to May 18, 1804, then as Emperor of the French (Empereur des Français... 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Also in 1830, Charles X's abdication and the rule of a new monarch Louis Phillipe caused more insecurity and therefore more work for the police. An additional problem was the 1832 cholera outbreak and a revolt that erupted on June 5. Vidocq's Surete arrested dozens of rioters. 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Louis-Philippe of France (October 6, 1773–August 26, 1850), served as the Orleanist king of the French from 1830 to 1848. ... 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... distribution of cholera Cholera (also called Asiatic cholera) is an infectious disease of the gastrointestinal tract caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium. ... June 5 is the 156th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (157th in leap years), with 209 days remaining. ...

Not all the police approved of his methods however, and bitter rivalry developed. In 1832 he was obliged to resign because of a charge that he instigated a crime through an intermediary for a sole purpose of getting credit for solving it. He set up a paper manufacturing and printing company in Saint-Mandé (again hiring ex-criminals to work for him). 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

The first books he intended to publish were his memoirs. In 1828 – 1829 Vidocq had procured services of L.F. L'Héritier de l'Ain to ghostwrite his memoirs. However, many historians consider that L'Héritier took lots of liberties with the facts. Vidocq himself seemed to agree, for he authorized only the first two of the total of four volumes. The book was still a success worldwide. 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1829 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1833 he founded the first known private detective agency, Le bureau des renseignments (Office of Intelligence) and, again, hired ex-cons. Official law enforcement tried many times to shut it down. In 1842 police arrested him in suspicion of unlawful imprisonment and taking money on false pretenses after he had solved an embezzling case. Vidocq later suspected that it had been a set-up. He was sentenced for five years with a 3,000-franc fine but the Court of Appeals released him. 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... A private investigator, or PI, is a person who undertakes investigations. ... A convict, after conviction, generally becomes some sort of prisoner. ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Embezzlement is the fraudulent conversion of property from a property owner. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ...

In his last years he wrote novels based on his experiences of the underworld. Some historians believe that he got help in writing from his friend Honoré de Balzac. Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac (May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850), was a French novelist. ...

When his wife Fleuride died in September, 1847, he retired and closed his agency. He still occasionally worked for Department for the Interior under Louis-Napoleon of France. September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... ...

In April 1857 Vidocq was paralyzed in his home in the Marais district in Paris. He died on May 11 in his bed. His funeral was the next day in the Saint-Denis Basilica. 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... The Basilica of Saint Denis (in French, la Basilique de Saint-Denis), a famous burial site for French monarchs, is located in Saint Denis (near Paris). ...

Vidocq is credited with having introduced record-keeping, criminology and ballistics to criminal investigation. He made the first plaster casts of shoe impressions. He created indelible ink and unalterable bond paper with his printing company. His form of anthropometrics is still partially used by French police. He is also credited for philanthropic pursuits – he claimed he never informed on anyone who had stolen for real need. The Vidocq Society claims to follow his example. Ballistics (gr. ... This page describe terms and jargon related to sculpture and sculpting. ... Anthropometry literally means measurement of humans. ... Philanthropy involves the donation or granting of money to various worthy charitable causes. ...

Books

• John Philip Stead: Vidocq: A Biography (1954)
• Mémoires de Vidocq, chef de police de sûreté jusqu'en 1827, aujourd'hui propriétaire et fabricant de papiers à Saint-Mandé (1828)

See also

• Vidocq (movie)

Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

External link

• Holden Police Dept page about Vidocq (http://holdenpd.com/rapscallion.html)