The Shadow of Great Britain
Chapter 248 - 248 168 Arthur's Colleague in France4K6_2

248: Chapter 168 Arthur’s Colleague in France(4K6)_2 248: Chapter 168 Arthur’s Colleague in France(4K6)_2 It was precisely because of their notorious reputations that even the Paris police, including British colleagues like Arthur, were influenced by association.

At the inception of Scotland Yard, Londoners almost equated it with repression, violence, and bloodshed, which was one of the main reasons patrol officers faced attacks during their rounds.

However, modern nations that pride themselves as world exemplars, like Britain and France, hope to minimize the use of violent means and strive to bridge domestic divides, as no one wants to stage another Great Revolution on their home soil.

To appear more civilized on the surface, the Paris Police Prefecture came up with all sorts of cunning schemes.

Even a decade before Arthur proposed establishing the LPS to Sir Peel, the creatively gifted French had already pioneered the practice of domestic security intelligence work.

The Duke of Wellington mentioned Francois Vidocq as the founder and head of the intelligence department of the Paris Police Prefecture, an old spy who had made impressive achievements for the institution with a rather proud resume.

Monsieur Victor accidentally killed someone in a fencing duel at the age of 14 and had to flee his home.

After changing his identity, he arrived in Paris alone but fell into an early romance with a French actress.

However, the love affair did not end well and left Victor penniless.

Just as the Great Revolution broke out in France, Victor took this opportunity to join the army.

At first, his performance was commendable, displaying great bravery in the first six months of fighting.

But soon, his penchant for showboating and insubordination got him into trouble.

He challenged an officer who constantly opposed him to a duel, which was refused.

Unwilling to accept this, Victor drew his sword and launched a surprise attack, managing to kill two officers in a 1V15 fight, only to be subdued and sentenced to hanging.

Before the execution, the ever-daring Monsieur Victor naturally refused to sit and wait for death.

He fully utilized his exceptional combat skills to lead many inmates in a jailbreak and fled back to his hometown, panting all the way.

On learning of his son’s exploits over the years, his unlucky father was shocked into submission; all he could do was pat his son on the shoulder and solemnly advise, “At this rate, you’ll end up dead in the streets.

Better get married quickly and at least give us Old Victors a descendant.”

Victor obediently heeded his father’s counsel and married a local girl.

Fortunately, a few months into their marriage, Victor’s wife gave birth to a hefty baby boy.

But as Victor held the child, something didn’t feel quite right.

Wait, don’t people normally have pregnancies that last ten months?

So why was my son born after just six?

Could it be some exceptional talent?

Baffled, Victor left his hometown on a rainy night and once again headed for Paris, only to end up in jail again soon after due to brawling.

Repeated incarcerations finally enlightened him in prison where he learned the art of forging documents from an old French pickpocket, leading to even more prison stints.

Fed up with him, the Paris Police Prefecture simply locked him up in a naval prison, but they clearly underestimated Victor’s abilities.

In no time, he bribed a guard for a naval uniform and strutted out of prison.

When he was captured again, the Police Prefecture raised his threat level to the maximum; this time, he was sent to the heavily guarded and tightly managed Toulon prison.

Yet, Victor, adhering to the principle “There are always more solutions than difficulties, as long as one keeps thinking,” escaped from Toulon prison yet again.

He and the Paris Police Prefecture engaged in a cat-and-mouse game over ten years, with “I’ll raise you three and four; you raise five, I raise six.” With these experiences, Victor’s fame grew in France, and many on the French underworld saw him as an idol.

At a Parisian underworld celebration for Monsieur Victor’s nth successful prison escape, Victor only scoffed and slapped a badge on the table from his coat pocket, “Sorry, I’m a cop.”

Shortly after, the Paris Police Prefecture publicly announced that the respected Eugene Francois Vidocq had seen the light and would head the newly established plainclothes detective squad of the Paris Police Prefecture—the Sûreté.

This Sûreté was the precursor to what the Duke of Wellington referred to as the Paris Safety Battalion.

Led by Vidocq and teeming with former criminals, the Paris Safety Battalion proved to be exceptionally successful.

Utilizing his longstanding underworld connections and insight into criminal psychology, Vidocq decreased Paris’s crime rate by forty percent within just a few years.

King Louis XVIII of France, overjoyed by Vidocq’s performance, even granted him a full pardon for all his past transgressions.

Of course, Vidocq’s success was not solely due to his connections and experience.

He introduced many technical innovations and systemic reforms into police work, including undercover policing, ballistics, a criminal records storage system, plaster casts of criminal footwear, indelible ink, and crime scene preservation mechanisms, among others.