The real Francois-Eugene Vidocq, 1775 to 1857, was born and died in Paris. He was an adventurer and a brash youth who spent time in frequent jail sentences, mostly for petty thefts. He served admirably in the army and fought in early battles of the Revolutionary Wars in 1792. He was hired by the government in 1809 for his experience and knowledge of crime, and helped create the security police (Police de Sûreté) in France. In 1832 he was fired for allegedly planning a theft, and he set up the very first private police agency. That became the model for modern private detective firms. He is considered by historians to be the "father" of modern criminology and is credited with the introduction of undercover work, ballistics, criminology and a record-keeping system to criminal investigation. He made the first plaster cast impressions of shoe prints. He created indelible ink and unalterable bond paper with his printing company to combat forgery. Several books, including Mémoires de Vidocq (1828-1829), Les Voleurs (1837), and Les Vrais Mystères de Paris (1844), were published under his name but may have been ghost-written by others. In later life, Vidocq published two volumes of his memoirs. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, he was friends with several leading authors of the day - Hugo, Balzac, Dumas and others.
