Go Lean Commentary
How do we learn from other people? By their precepts and by their examples.
Sometimes the lessons are from good, sometimes from bad and yes, sometimes from ugly examples. This commentary on the legendary Private Security firm “The Pinkertons” demonstrates the need to ensure economic engines have a security apparatus. This commentary also provides a cautionary tale of how excessive force can lead to abuse.
No Justice – No Peace!
This discussion harmonizes with the book Go Lean…Caribbean which posits that “bad actors” will always emerge to exploit opportunities in times of economic prosperity, with bad or evil intent. The book relates a number of related episodes from world history, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean (Page 181) and the Old American West (Page 142).
If only life could be so simple and we all “just get along”. However there is the reality! When the primary economic driver is tourism, the strategy is to market an image of “pleasure and paradise”. Pirates and Old West Outlaws do not fit into that image. Mitigation efforts must be exerted to ensure that chaos does not reign supreme.
This is where we learn so much from The Pinkertons, of old (though the company continues today). The historic details are as follows:
“We Never Sleep” – Company Motto
Pinkerton, founded as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, is a private security guard and detective agency established in the United States by Allan Pinkerton in 1850 and currently a subsidiary of Securitas AB.[1]
Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton agents for his personal security during the Civil War.[2] Pinkerton’s agents performed services ranging from security guarding to private military contracting work. Pinkerton was the largest private law enforcement organization in the world at the height of its power.[3] By the early 1890s, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency employed more agents than there were members of the standing army of the United States of America.
During the labor strikes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, businessmen hired the Pinkerton Agency to infiltrate unions, supply guards, keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories, as well as recruiting “goon squads” to intimidate workers. One such confrontation was the Homestead Strike of 1892, in which Pinkerton agents were called in to reinforce the strikebreaking measures of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, acting on behalf of Andrew Carnegie. The ensuing battle between Pinkerton agents and striking workers led to the deaths of seven Pinkerton agents and nine steelworkers.[4]
The Pinkertons were also used as guards in coal, iron, and lumber disputes in Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia as well as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921. The organization was pejoratively called the “Pinks” by its opponents.
The company now operates as “Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, Inc. d.b.a. Pinkerton Corporate Risk Management”, a division of the Swedish security company SecuritasAB. The former Government Services division, PGS, now operates as Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services, Inc.[5]
At one point, the good, bad and ugly track record of The Pinkertons heightened to the point that the US Federal Government passed a landmark legislation called the Anti-Pinkerton Act in 1893. The following details apply:
The Anti-Pinkerton Act was a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1893 to limit the government’s ability to hire strikebreakers. It is contained within 5 U.S.C. 3108 and specifically restricts the government (and Federal Territories) from hiring employees of The Pinkerton Agency or similar organizations.
So much of American history and media productions reference The Pinkertons:
- The Pinkertons have been mentioned in season 1 and featured in seasons 2 and 3 of the HBO series “Deadwood“, and also the 1980 movie “The Long Riders,” where Pinkerton agents are depicted investigating criminal activity of the James brothers.
- In the fourth season episode “Havre de Grace” of “Boardwalk Empire“, the character Roy Phillips is revealed to be a detective working for the agency.
- The protagonist of the video game BioShock Infinite, Booker DeWitt, is an ex-Pinkerton, known for his violent methods in controlling strikes.
- The character Captain Homer Jackson in the BBC series Ripper Street is also revealed as an ex-Pinkerton agent in series one.
- Two Pinkerton Agents were featured in the movie “Legend Of Zorro”.
- The Pinkertons are featured in the “3:10 to Yuma” remake featuring Russel Crowe and Christian Bale.
- In Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 Novels Felix Leiter worked for Pinkertons.
- Three Pinkerton Agents were featured in the first season episode “Husbands & Fathers”, of the BBC America show Copper (TV series).
- In 1966 Irwin Allen series The Time Tunnel on episode 12 “The Death Trap”, Mr. Pinkerton, with the help of the two main characters, saved President Lincoln.
- In the Sherlock Holmes novel The Valley of Fear, Birdy Edwards is a Pinkerton agent.
- In Cable TV network Showtime’s Penny Dreadful Season 1-Episode 8 “Grand Guignol” Ethan Chandler is confronted by 2 Pinkerton agents in a bar as his past catches up with him.
- The song “Book, Saddle, And Go” on the 2013 album Earth Rocker from musical group “Clutch” references ‘Pinkerton Man’ – “Pinkerton man, murdering bastard, I’m gonna get even, get even with you, Get even with you”.
- The Pinkertons, a scripted one-hour syndicated show starring Angus MacFadyen as Allan Pinkerton, debuted in 2014.[22][23]
Actor Angus MacFadyen is set for one of the lead roles in The Pinkertons, Canadian companies Rosetta Media and Buffalo Gal Pictures’ upcoming 22-episode action-adventure detective series that is set to premiere in first-run syndication in the U.S. this fall. It has been cleared in more than 85% of the country by Rohrs Media Group on station groups including Tribune, Weigel, Hearst, LIN, Meredith, Cox and the CW PLUS. Drawing on the real cases of The Pinkerton Detective Agency, The Pinkertons follows founder Allan Pinkerton (MacFadyen), his son, William, and America’s first female detective, Kate Warne, as they solve crimes throughout the “Wild West” of the 1860s (Pinkerton is known for revolutionizing detective work by developing use of surveillance, undercover work and the mug shot). In part because of his commitment to AMC drama Turn, on which he is a regular, MacFadyen is will be a recurring guest star on The Pinkertons, not appearing in all episodes.[23]
Promotional Video for the TV Series: The Pinkertons – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nhl9A5smo0
The security goal of Go Lean…Caribbean is for public safety! This is not the first (newly integrated) society needing public safety mitigations. The role model and history of The Pinkertons provides great insight. In 1871, Congress appropriated $50,000 to the new Department of Justice (DOJ) to form a sub-organization devoted to “the detection and prosecution of those guilty of violating federal law”. The amount was insufficient for the DOJ to fashion an integral investigating unit, so the DOJ contracted out the services to The Pinkerton National Detective Agency.[10] This is the biggest lesson for the Caribbean role model. The Pinkerton Agency had a nation-wide footprint and expedience in protecting economic engines – the US Federal government needed that expertise.
The Go Lean book calls for the establishment of “Justice Institutions” within the Caribbean at the outset of the roadmap. These institutions, similar to The Pinkertons, will have the broad scope for jurisdiction and prosecution of economic crimes throughout the entire region. In addition to economic crimes, there is the need for a military establishment in the region. Execution of the roadmap integrates and consolidates a regional naval force, escalated expeditionary forces, unified command-and-control and an intelligence gathering & analysis apparatus. But unlike The Pinkerton agency, the Caribbean’s public safety entities (law enforcement and security forces) will not be accountable to private or corporate interest, but rather accountable to a technocratic Caribbean governance.
This goal is detailed in the Go Lean book as it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU would be set to optimize Caribbean society through economic empowerment, and the aligning security dynamics. In fact, the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance, (with Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches) to support these engines.
The security apparatus within this Go Lean roadmap asserts that the region (and member-states) must prepare for its own security needs. So the vision is that all Caribbean member-states authorize regional “Justice Institutions” and delegate jurisdiction to marshal and prosecute economic crimes. This delegation, or separation-of-powers, will cover law enforcement and regional defense, all encompassed in the book’s Homeland Security roadmap.
There is the need to ensure law-and-order in all 30 Caribbean member-states and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Caribbean Sea. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:
x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
The Caribbean appointing “new guards”, or a security pact to ensure public safety has been previously detailed in these blogs/ commentaries:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2259 | Economic Crime Enforcement – The Criminalization of American Business |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1965 | America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1531 | A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago – World War I |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487 | Here come the Drones … and the Concerns |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1076 | Caribbean “Terrorists” travel to Venezuela for jihadist training |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392 | Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341 | US slams Caribbean human rights practices |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 | 10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Don’t Want … |
The treaty to establish the “new guards”, the Homeland Security Force and Federal Justice Department within the Caribbean Union Trade Federation gets legal authorization from a Status of Forces Agreement with the initiation of the confederation. This process would be “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. The Go Lean book also details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide increased public safety & security in the Caribbean region:
| Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Security Principle – Privacy –vs- Public Protection | Page 23 |
| Community Ethos – Security Principle – Intelligence Gathering | Page 23 |
| Community Ethos – Security Principle – Crap” Happens | Page 23 |
| Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Lean Operations | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Cooperatives | Page 25 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing | Page 35 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Strategy – Vision – Trade Federation with Proxy Powers of a Confederacy | Page 45 |
| Strategy – Vision – Defense Pact to Defend Against Systemic Threats | Page 45 |
| Tactical – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union | Page 63 |
| Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy | Page 64 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security | Page 75 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – CariPol: Marshals and Investigations | Page 77 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – Witness Protection | Page 77 |
| Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change | Page 101 |
| Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives | Page 103 |
| Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ – Security – Interdictions & Piracy | Page 104 |
| Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Security and Justice | Page 105 |
| Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid – Military Aid | Page 115 |
| Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better | Page 131 |
| Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Law Enforcement Oversight | Page 134 |
| Planning – Lessons Learned from the West Indies (WI) Federation – WI Regiment | Page 135 |
| Planning – Lessons from the American West – Law & Order | Page 139 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy | Page 151 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance | Page 168 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract | Page 170 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership – Art of War Applications | Page 171 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice | Page 177 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime | Page 178 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Gun Control | Page 179 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security | Page 180 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism | Page 181 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis | Page 182 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights | Page 220 |
| Appendix – Art of War Chapters – Chapter 7 – Engaging The Security Force | Page 327 |
The history of The Pinkertons depicts honorable men (and women) engaging an honorable cause (law and order), but not always in an honorable manner. Their motto was “we never sleep” but their ethos appeared to be “by any means necessary”. Yes, bad actors will always emerge, but people of goodwill do not need to use bad behavior to stop bad things from happening – two wrongs don’t make a right.
The Go Lean roadmap calls for justice institutions of the CU to execute their role in a just manner, to impact the Greater Good. This does not happen accidently, this must be the output of a technocratic system bent on efficiency and effectiveness. The Go Lean roadmap ensures accountability, transparency, checks-and-balances in the execution of the rule-of-law. This is the change for the Caribbean. Public Safety, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security is necessary to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. Everyone in the Caribbean, the people and institutions, are hereby urged to lean-in to this elevation of society.
Download the e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – free … now!
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Source References:
1. “Pinkerton Government Services, Inc.: Private Company Information – Businessweek”. investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
2. Green, James (2006). Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America. Pantheon Books. Page 43
3. TM Becker (1974). “The place of private police in society: An area of research for the Social Sciences”. Social Problems (Social Problems) 21 (3): 438–453. doi:10.1525/sp.1974.21.3.03a00110. JSTOR 799910.
4. Krause, Paul (1992). The Battle for Homestead, 1890-1892: Politics, Culture, and Steel. University of Pittsburgh Press. Page 20-21
5. http://www.linkedin.com/company/pinkerton-government-services
10. Churchill, Ward (Spring 2004). “From the Pinkertons to the PATRIOT Act: The Trajectory of Political Policing in the United States, 1870 to the Present”. The New Centennial Review 4 (1): 1–72. doi:10.1353/ncr.2004.0016. Archived from the original on 2009-07-29.
22. “The Pinkertons TV Series”. Rosetta Media and Buffalo Gal Pictures. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
23. Andreeva, Nellie (July 23, 2014). “Angus MacFadyen Set To Play Allan Pinkerton In Syndicated Drama Series ‘The Pinkertons’”. Deadline Hollywood (Penske Business Media, LLC). Retrieved 2014-10-11.