This is false.
There are MANY departments at the Pinkerton agency. The have a Protection department, with many sub groups. A Consulting department with many sub groups. And an Investigations department with many sub groups.
People, like yourself, often mistake all Pinkertons as being from the Protection department. Those are the guys historically often described as thugs by some, and who are sometimes armed. Even that is partially a myth. There is controversy right now about some rich people hiring private firefighter services to protect their homes in Pacific Palisades from the fires (successfully). That was probably part of Pinkertons Protection services. They do that. In fact, they invented the World's Fair Fire Department for the 64' World's Fair. And they're not armed and not thugs. Mostly just retired firefighters.
However, Protection is not who WOTC hired. WOTC hired from their Investigation department.
I know someone who worked in their Investigation department most of his life until he retired. He never left his desk. There are investigators who, like the two involved in this incident, do go out in the field. But they're not thugs looking to intimidate. They're actual private investigators working on investigation matters on behalf of corporations.
They literally have an entire sub-department dedicated to "tracking down stolen property". They are part of Loss Prevention. They are detectives. And in states which license them, they're literally licensed detectives.
People should step away from these images they have of this company that come from history and, more often, movies and TV. Pinkertons, particularly those outside the Protection department, are usually nothing like the image many people here seem to have of them.
