‘Pinks’ change of owner

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 23

‘Pinks’ change of owner

From

RUPERT MORRIS

in Los Angeles

Pinkerton’s, the detective agency which hunted down so many notorious Western outlaws, will soon have a new owner.

Founded in 1850 by a bearded Scotsman, Allan Pinkerton, the agency has diversified in recent years into guard services and the manufacture of electronic security equipment. Pinkerton's has 30,000 employees in the United States, Canada and Britain. But the firm has not been doing so well lately, losing money in the first half of 1987 after a profitable 1986. American Brands, the Connec-ticut-based conglomerate which owns Pinkerton’s, is believed to be selling for less than the $3OO million purchase price it paid five years ago. The buyer is Thomas W. Wathen, sole owner of C.P.P. Security Services, based in Los Angeles. The merger will lift C.P.P.’s annual sales to about S6SOM, making it joint leader, with Borg-Warner, of the $16,000M American security guard market. “Pinkerton’s is kind of like the Holy Grail to me,” says Wathen, and to prove it he proposes to change the name of his company to Pinkerton’s. He is also pledged to keep intact the investigative unit on which Pinkerton’s reputation is founded. The “Pinks” as the detectives were known, became renowned in the nineteenth century for their pursuit of outlaws like the Reno Gang, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In George Roy Hill’s classic film, when Butch and Sundance are trying in vain to escape their pursuers, Paul Newman turns to Robert Redford and asks repeatedly: “Who are those guys?” They were Pinkerton’s. Allan Pinkerton, who fled Glasgow in 1842 because he was wanted for his radical views on parliamentary reform, set up the firm in 1850, and in 1853 was appointed Chicago’s first detective. Pinkerton's men came to be in great demand for protecting the railroads. After Pinkerton’s death in 1884, the firm continued to prosper, and during the First World War Dashiell Hammett joined as an investigator. He drew from his experiences to write detective novels like “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man.” He created the private eye “Sam Spade,” so memorably played on screen by Humphrey Bogart. Since those days the security industry has grown enormously, and Pinkerton’s now has 10,000 competitors, including big names like Burns, Wackenhut and BorgWarner Security. But Thomas Wathen, the prospective new owner, has much of the pioneering spirit of Allan Pinkerton. Aged 58, Wathen grew up in Indiana, where he got a degree in police administration. He went into the Air Force where he worked as a security investigator. In 1963 he joined C.P.P., and six months later bought the company for $lOO,OOO. It was in the 1980 s that business really took off, multiplying C.P.P.’s operation from 30 offices in seven states in 1980 to 115 offices in 38 states in 1984. C.P.P. currently employs 20,000. He talks of “a personal sense of responsibility to enhance the image of Pinkerton’s.” He also has a substantial financial responsibility to the banks that have helped him finance the takeover, and industry experts warn that intense competition and low profit margins will not make it easy for him. Copyright London Observer.