Crime Casebook

The Glasgow Police continued it’s reputation for innovation when, in 1819, they appointed Lieutenant Peter McKinlay as ‘Criminal Officer’, the first Glasgow Detective.

Signature of Lt. Peter McKinlay, Glasgow’s First Detective

Two years later, in 1821, he was provided with an assistant and so the Glasgow Criminal Department was created, twenty-one years before Sir Robert Peel introduced the famous Scotland Yard Detectives to his Metropolitan Police in London (1842).

This extract from The Glasgow Herald dated August 27, 1824, illustrates crime and the activities and risks faced by detectives at that time. It also illustrates that gardeners were empowered to shoot persons raiding their gardens!

During the 154 years of its existence, the Glasgow Criminal Department developed from a few criminal officers in the early days to the Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D.) that we know today.

Click here to read more about the outstanding Detectives of the City of Glasgow Police.

Click here to read about the compelling and dramatic cases they investigated.