UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS

College of Criminal Justice Education

TIMELINE AND PERSONALITIES IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

2100 B. C. BABYLON: as civilization developed, social and cultural traditions were codified into
formal laws. The Code of Hammurabi was then implemented to detect those who refused to obey
the law. It imposes the Lex Taliones principle.
5th CENTURY B.C., ROME: Rome created the first specialized investigative unit. It was named as
QUESTORS/TRACKERS/MURDERERS due to their cruel treatment to suspects in investigating
crimes.
6th CENTURY B.C. ATHENS: Unpaid magistrates (judges), were appointed by the citizens to
make decisions for the cases presented to them.
9th CENTURY. ENGLAND: King Alfred the Great established a system of “mutual pledge” (social
Control), which organized for the security of the country into several levels;
AT ABOUT THE TIME OF CHRIST, ROME: The Roman Emperor Augustus picked out special,
highly qualified members of the military to form the Praetorian Guard, the Praefectus Urbi and the
Vigiles of Rome.
1285 A.D., ENGLAND: THE STATUTE OF WINCHESTER was enacted establishing a
rudimentary criminal justice system in which most of the responsibility for law enforcement remained
with the people themselves.
1720’s, ENGLAND: JONATHAN WILD – He was a buckle maker and a brothel operator; a master
criminal who became the London’s most effective criminal investigator.
1750s, ENGLAND: HENRY FIELDING – An English man who wrote a novel entitled “TOM
JONES” and was appointed as magistrate (sheriff) for the areas of Westminster and Middle Age,
London. He was the creator of the Bow Street Runners.
1753, ENGLAND: JOHN FIELDING – The younger brother of Henry Fielding who took over the
control of Bow Street Court in 1753. Despite of his closed vision (blind), he guided the runners, they
became quite effective.
1800, LONDON: PATRICK COLQUHOUN – A prominent London President who proposed the
unique idea of creating sizeable uniformed force to police the city of London in order to remedy the
public outcry concerning the increase of criminality during the early 1800s.
EARLY 18TH CENTURY, ENGLAND: The first body of public-order officers to be named police
in England was the Marine Police, a force established in 1798 to protect merchandise in the port of
London.
1811, FRANCE: EUGENE “FRANCOIS” VIDOCQ - established a squad of ex-convicts to aid the
Paris Police in investigating crimes. He worked under the theory of “Set a thief to catch a thief.” He
introduced the concept of “Trade Protection Society,” which became the forerunner of our present-
day credit card system. He is credited, as the founder of La Surete, France’s National Detective
Organization.
1829, LONDON: ROBERT PEEL – The founder and chief organizer of London Metropolitan
Police. He introduced the techniques in detecting crimes such as detectives concealing themselves,
and secretly photographing and recording conversations.
1833, ENGLAND: London Metropolitan Police employed the first undercover officer.
1835, TEXAS RANGERS was organized as the first law enforcement agency with statewide
investigative authority. This is the forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
1839, BIRTH YEAR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: WILLIAM HENRY FOX TALBOT explained a
photographic process he had invented to the Royal Society of London.
(1847-1915), DR. HANS GROSS – The earliest advocate of criminal investigation as a science.
1852, U.S.A: CHARLES DICKENS is a great novelist in which through his story entitled bleak
house, he introduced the term detective to the English language (Adams & Taylor, 1995).
1852, U.S.A: ALLAN PINKERTON was the America’s foremost private detective. This individual
truly deserves the title of “America’s Founder of Criminal Investigation.” Among methods pioneered
were “shadowing,” the art of suspects surveillance, “roping,” working in undercover capacity, they
have the motto, “We never sleep.”
1856, U.S.A: KATE WAYNE: The first woman detective in the history of criminal investigation.
She was hired by the Pinkerton Agency and contributed to the resolutions of big cases of the United
States of America.
1866, U.S.A: THOMAS BYRNES - He is an unusually keen-minded individual who trained his
detectives in recognizing individual criminal techniques. He founded the criminal “modus operandi,”
or method/mode of operation.
1866, LIBERTY, MISSOURI, USA: THE JESSIE JAMES GANG made the first hold-up which
marks the beginning of the gang’s 15 year hold-up and robbery spree (12 bank hold-ups and 12 train
stage coach robberies in 11 states). Clay County Savings Association was their first victim and their
take was $60,000.00.
1877, ENGLAND: HOWARD VINCENT – He headed the newly organized Criminal Investigation
Department in Scotland Yard.
1882, FRANCE: ALPHONSE BERTILLON – A French Police Clerk who introduced and
established the first systematic identification system based on the Anthropological Signalment
(Anthropometry). He is considered as the founder of Criminal Investigation.
1887, DR. ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE – He popularized the scientific Criminal Investigation by
creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Watson.
1892, ENGLAND: FRANCIS GALTON – An English man who published his study on classifying
fingerprints and recognized the uniqueness of the fingerprints to be used as evidence against a suspect
1909-1924 JOHN EDGAR HOOVER – He became the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
which was established by the attorney general from 1909 to 1924.
1913, PHILIPPINES - The genesis of Criminal Investigation in the Manila Police Department,
presently the Western Police District took place.
1918, ENGLAND, a new concept was introduced in the field of Criminal Investigation. This is
known as “Team Policing.”
1954, USA: DR. PAUL KIRK – The best known Criminalist who headed the Department of
Criminalistics at the University of California, USA.
1966, USA: MIRANDA Vs ARIZONA – The US Supreme Court established procedural guidelines
for taking criminal confessions. The case is the origin of the present Miranda rights of every accused
under the custody of police.