Here’s a list of individuals who were significant in the development of law enforcement, criminology, or forensics. It includes scientists, police officers, magistrates, one Prime Minister, and, at least, one (semi-)reformed criminal.

Abberline, Frederick George (1843-1929)

• Chief Investigator of the Jack the Ripper murders (1888).

Bertillon, Alphonse: (1853-1914)

• Created the Bertillon System as a method of identifying repeat criminals (recidivists). It applies anthropometry and identifies criminals through key body measurements. 

Byrnes, Thomas (1842-1910)

• Headed the detective bureau of the New York Police Department and then served as police chief from 1880 until 1895. 

• He created the Rogue’s gallery (photographs of every individual who was arrested).

Colquhoun, Patrick (1745-1820)

• A Scottish merchant, magistrate, and statistician.

• He founded the Thames River Police; the first regular preventive police force in England.

• He published, Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, which many consider the founding document on modern law enforcement. 

Faulds, Henry:  (1843-1930)

• Scottish doctor who is known for the development of fingerprinting. 

• He offered the fingerprinting method of identification (which he had studied and employed in Japan) to Scotland Yard, but was dismissed.

• While living in Japan he exonerated a member of hospital staff who had been arrested on suspicion of stealing. Faulds compared fingerprints left at the crime scene to those of the staff member. When they were found to be different, the suspect was released. 

Faurot, Joseph A. (1872-1942) 

• Called the American “father of fingerprinting”; won national acceptance of fingerprinting early in the twentieth century.

Fidelis, Fortunato  (1550-1630) (Also spelled Fortunato Fedeli)

• An Italian physician who is considered to have created the precursor of forensic medicine. 

• He is best known for his treatise, De relationibus medicorum libri quatuor. In quibus ea omnia, quae in forensibus, ac publicis causis medici referre solent, plenissime traduntur, published in Palermo in 1602, and considered to be the foundation of modern pathology.

Fielding, Henry  (1707-1754) 

• He was novelist, dramatist, and magistrate. His novel, Tom Jones (1749), is still read. 

• A staunch judicial reformer, Fielding used his position as London’s Chief Magistrate to found London’s first full-time police force in 1749. They were nicknamed the Bow Street Runners, a moniker disliked by its members. They were only sporadically funded by the State.

• He was known as impartial in his judgements, incorruptible, and compassionate for the poor (who he viewed as being forced into crime). He refused to take money from the very poor, thus decreasing his income from the office of Magistrate. 

Fielding, John  (1721-1780)

• Magistrate of the City of Westminster and half-brother of Henry Fielding. He led and expanded the Bow Street Runners after Henry Fielding's death.

Fodere, François  (1764-1835)

• A French forensic physician whose six-volume Traité de médecine légale et d'hygiène publique ou de police de santé, published in 1813 was a standard work of legal medicine in France during the early part of the 19th century. 

• He is considered the father of forensic medicine.

Gall, Franz Josef  (1758-1828)

• German neuroanatomist, physiologist, and founder of phrenology. A method of examining human skulls with the belief that the characteristics would reveal personality traits, intelligence, and propensity for criminal activity. This developed from the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain. 

Galton, Francis  (1822-1911)

• British scientist who improved upon the work of Henry Faulds and William Herschel to revolutionize the classification of fingerprints. He listed the characteristics of fingerprints, referring to them as minutiae; today they are referred to as Galton’s Details

Garofalo, Rafaele  (1851-1934)

• An Italian criminologist and lawyer; considered one of the main exponents of the Positivist School of Criminology. Studied under Cesare Lombroso and collaborated with him on the Archives of Psychiatry, Anthropology and Penal Sciences.

• He rejected the doctrine of free will and advocated that crime should be studied using scientific methods. He developed his biological principles according to those of Charles Darwin with regard to adaptation and natural selection. 

Gross, Hans  (1847-1915)

• An Austrian jurist and criminologist and considered to be the Founding Father of criminal profiling and the creator of the field of criminality. 

• His book, classes, institutions, and methods improved the justice system. 

Henry, Sir Edward Richard (1850-1931) 

• Devised the first practical and effective method to classify and archive fingerprints.

Herschel, William James (1833-1917) 

• British fingerprint pioneer, who concluded that fingerprints are unique to the individual.

Lacassagne, Jean Alexandre Eugene: (1844-1921)

• French criminologist and forensic specialist. In 1884 he was appointed a professor of forensic medicine at the University of Lyons, France, and later, he founded the Laboratory of Technical Police at Lyon (Lacassagne school of criminology).

• He is the first scientist to attempt to match a bullet to a particular gun barrel by studying the bullet’s striations, counting and comparing the number lands and grooves (1889). 

• He was one of the first scientists to recognize, study, and report on the importance of bloodstains at a crime scene and how they could provide insight regarding the crime. 

Landsteiner, Karl (1868-1943) 

• Austrian scientist and Nobel Prize winner. 

• Identified the four major blood groups (A, B, O in 1901; AB in 1902).

• Allowed for blood transfusions and created an effective tool for criminal investigations. 

Locard, Edmund  (1877-1966)

• A French criminologist, pioneer in forensic science. Was known as “Sherlock Holmes of France.” Devised the basic principle of modern forensics: Every contact leaves a trace. This is known as Locard’s exchange principle.

Lombroso, Cesare (1835-1909)

• Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, anthropologist, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. 

• His theory of anthropological criminology states that criminality was not a choice, it was inherited, and that their criminality manifested itself physically and could be detected. He argued that one of the signs of criminality (or atavism) was excessive tattooing. 

Malpighi, Marcello  (1628-1694)

• An Italian biologist and physician. Considered to be the “Founder of microscopical anatomy, histology & Father of physiology and embryology.”

Marsh, James: (1794-1846)

• English chemist who developed the Marsh Test for detecting arsenic in human tissue. 

Mayne, Richard  (1796-1868)

• A British barrister and the joint first Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis, the head of the Metropolitan Police (1829-1868).

• He was the youngest and longest-serving Commissioner in the force's history, as well as the youngest on his appointment.

Morel, Bénédict  (1809-1873)

• Vienna-Born French psychiatrist. Creator and advocate for field of degeneration theory, developed in the 1850s while director a mental asylum in Saint-Yon in northern France. It was based on the idea that psychological disorders (and other behavioral abnormalities) were the product of an abnormal constitution. This necessitated the creation of a perfect human. He believed the abnormalities were inherited and grew worse with each generation.  

• Was among the first to advance a legal definition of insanity.

Orfila, Matthieu Joseph Bonaventure (1787-1853)

• A Spanish toxicologist and chemist who is recognized as the Father of Toxicology.

• His research centered on developing techniques for proving the presence of poison in corpses.

• He published his treatise in 1814, Treatise on Poisons, which was the first of its kind.

Peel, Sir Robert (2nd Baronet): (1788-1850)

• Considered the father of modern policing. A British politician who served as Prime Minister for two separate terms. 

• He is most famous for establishing the Metropolitan Police Force based in Scotland Yard. It employed 1,000 constables, nicknamed “bobbies” or, less affectionately, “peelers” in tribute to Robert Peel.

Quételet, Adolphe  (1796-1874)

• Belgian mathematician, statistician, astronomer, and sociologist. Founded and directed the Brussels Observatory. Was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences. 

• He founded anthropometry and developed the body mass index (BMI) scale which originally was referred to at the Quetelette Index. 

Rose, Valentine (the Younger)  (1762-1807)

• German pharmacologist who discovered sodium bicarbonate (1801) and inulin (1807). 

• He developed a method to detect arsenic in human tissue.

Stringham, James S. (1775-1817)

• Considered by many to be the founder of medical jurisprudence in the United States.

Uhlenhuth, Paul Theodore (1870-1957) 

• German forensic scientist who discovered a serum that enabled investigators to distinguish between human and animal blood evidence.

Vidocq, Eugene Francois (1775-1857)

• Reformed criminal who became a police informant. He founded, and directed, the Sûreté nationale (the National Police).

• After retiring from the Sûreté under suspicion of embezzlement, he founded the first known private detective agency.

Vucetich, Juan (1858-1925)

• Argentinian statistician in the Central Police Department of La Plata. Became the head of the Office of Identification. He developed Latin America’s first fingerprint classification system. He established the world’s first fingerprint bureau.