92. Sounds Like A Bad Boy Gone Good - Eugene Vidocq And The Invention Of Criminology

Back around the turn of the century...no not 2001....no, no, not 1901...the turn of the century before THAT, in the late 1700s and early 1800s...a young man raised in a good family in France was very busy being a very very bad boy, all over France as well as a good chunk of Europe.  His name was Eugene Francois Vidocq, and his penchant for getting into trouble with the law was matched only by his way with the ladies - he was such a rounder that he married no fewer than three times during his 82 years and was never far from romantic...er...adventure.  His criminal behavior was legendary - Vidocq was so addicted to trickery, forgery and downright slippery behavior that he often helped other criminals just because he enjoyed being devious.  He landed in jail many times, and was once even sentenced to death (which he obviously ended up avoiding...somehow...).  But sometime in his mid-thirties, something happened to Eugene Vidocq.  He decided to stop plotting and running and going to jail - and begin to use his talents AGAINST criminals.  He ended up not only becoming one of the most effective law enforcement officials in history - he pretty much invented modern criminology---his methods are the basis of everything today's law men and women utilize very single day.  Take a ride back in time to 18th- and 19th-Century France with Melissa as she weaves the remarkable tale of the criminal who became the cop - who re-shaped the very nature of police work - and whose name graces the Vidocq Society, a group of criminologists, scientists and law enforcement specialists who meet every month here in the U.S. to investigate difficult-to-solve crimes.  SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR - KLEANSPA BATH & BODY - Get 15% your total order by entering the promo code TIPSTER at check out.  Kleanspa- prepare to smell delicious!   www.kleanspa.com