Active Community,
Cartoons, Cartoons by Shannon Wheeler, Clyde List, & Steve Amy   

Columns, Commentary, Critiques, News Bytes,
Letters, and more!

            
"Behind the Badge in River City:  A Police Memoir, is a revealing,
unique and important book."

a review by Timothy Flanagan, writer, retired teacher, & contributing editor at
The Portland Alliance.
 

Most days, most people just take cops for granted. They assume the police are more or less like everyone else, putting in their hours and doing their jobs. At one level this is true.

Some of us may say hello to officers we happen across or we might encounter them briefly when getting a ticket or asking for directions. Regardless of these brief glimpses, few of us know a great deal about the men and women who serve as peace officers with The Portland Police Bureau. Perhaps it's time we found out.

Don Dupay served with the bureau from 1961-1978 as an officer and detective.  After resigning from his position in 1978, Mr. Dupay worked as Director of Security for a well-known hotel in Portland, co-hosted a cable access TV show, "Cannibus Common Sense," and he still
lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. Checkout the review of his book below:

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/behindthebadge 

The officers "behind the badge" are a breed apart.  "Once a cop, always a cop," according to Dupay. They must live in a world of constant contradictions, torn between their duties and the demands of survival. Mr. Dupay has provided us with a stark and candid look at life on the street for officers in Portland, Oregon. Now that he has opened this door, I would encourage you to step inside and take a closer look. The story he tells may lead you to reconsider your preconceptions and rethink your prejudices, pro or con. Some of the details are edifying, others are too horrible to bear. But these facts provide a look inside the lives of officers who often have our lives in their hands.   

Mr. Dupay tells stories that make the hair rise up on the back of your neck. In seventeen years with the department, he worked jail duty, East Precinct, traffic division, vice squad, morals, and North Precinct until spending his last few years with the department as a detective, working the burglary and homicide details. We are allowed to almost intimately know Officer DuPay and the men he worked with. In addition to his fellow officers, he introduces us to pimps, prostitutes, safe-crackers, drug addicts, thieves and thugs. But we are never left to choose between the "good guys" and the "bad guys."  Don keeps it real. 

I liked this book at a gut level.  It was a good read.  In the reading I found details that were
unnerving and terrible, but the narrator's smooth and compelling style kept me turning those
pages.  Even though over the years I have had close friends who worked as police officers,
this book reveals emotions that often remain hidden and motives I had not considered. 

The author has a unique talent for penetrating analysis and startling revelations. As much as I enjoyed this read, I have some concerns about repercussions once this book hits the street.  Mr. DuPay cut no corners and pulled no punches; he named names and specified dates, times, and places. Some of the principals he named are still in Portland and may not appreciate his candor. Others will give him their blessing and say it's about time somebody told the truth.

Regardless of where you stand on issues about police accountability or the need for more effective law enforcement, this book will provide persuasive testimony.  I have read various accounts which deal with the problems we currently face in Portland. Our police department is under attack and perhaps rightfully so. Unarmed citizens die and nobody is held accountable for these murders.
The US Justice Department says "The Portland Police Bureau has engaged in a 'pattern and practice' of excessive use of force."  The report found problems with Portland Police Bureau's policies, training and supervision. U.S. Attorney for Oregon Amanda Marshall said the findings |
of the report were "grave and serious. Judge Simon has ruled the police union can have input
in the proposed reform, but a local alliance of church leaders somehow does not deserve that
same courtesy.

Right now we are searching for solutions and determined not only to ask the right questions but
get real answers.  If you think you can handle the truth, you need to read "Behind the Badge in
River City, A Police Memoir," by Don DuPay. I may not agree with everything he says, but I think
it is essential that concerned citizens read his account with open minds and hearts. In the course
of his narration, this writer gets to the crux of the issues.

Please use the links below to contact Don DuPay, his agent Theresa Griffin-Kennedy,
or to ask any questions you may have.

Don Dupay Personal Website

Interview with Don Dupay

Don Dupay | Facebook

Don DuPay | LinkedIn

Some Photos

Alliance Article on Don Dupay

• The links below are from the files of Theresa Griffin Kennedy:
  Police Interviews
  • Officer Bert Combs
  • Sergeant Chris Davis
  • Former Detective Don Dupay
  • Sergeant Scott Westerman
  • Retired Detective Jim Bellah
  • Retired Captain CW Jensen
  • Former Sheriff Bernie Giusto
• Other Interveiws...
  • Interview with Sgt Washburn
  • Interview with Phil Stanford

    ---

Hypocrisy Rules;
the State of the Pot Business in Oregon
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/dupay
 

By Don L. Dupay

June 2012

"People have only as much liberty
as they have the intelligence to want
and the courage to take.”
Emma Goldman

The right to rebellion is the right to seek a higher rule... ~George Elliot

Speaking Truth to Power Since 1981! Support Alternative Media!

ThePortlandAlliance.org/communitycalendar

BREAKING NEWS AT THE ALLIANCE:
SYSTEM GRAVELY BROKEN:
RESPONSES TO CHASSE DISCIPLINE REVERSAL

For all we can know

The Universe begins and ends

in each of us,

in the reach of our own hands.

~From Time on Our Hands, by Max Linden Levy

Readings

AlternativeNewsResource.org/ Behind the Headlines... Oregon News Links

Arts & Culture
Visual Arts, Music,
Theatre,
Cartoons, Movies,
Books,
Writing

Local
actions, events,
rallies, etc.

Eyes Wide Shut!

by Yugen Fardan Rashad

Picture of Michael Munk Tribune Photo L. E. Baskow

---

Navigation: FrontPage / Activism / Interactive Calendar / Donate / Flyer / YouTube / Poster / Subscribe / Place Ad / Ad Rates / Online Ads / Advertising / Twitter / News! / Previous Issues / Blog/ Myspace / Facebook1 /Facebook2

Features: Active Community / A Few Words /Arts & Culture / Breaking News / Jobs / / Labor History / Music /NewsBytes / Progressive Directory / Cartoons / Community Calendar /Letters / Poetry / Viewpoints & Commentary

Columns: William Beeman, Ellen Brown, Engelhardt / Dennis Kucinich / Michael Munk / Myers /
William Reed / Mark Schwebke / Norman Solomon / Vorpahl / Wittner

Partners: AFD / AMA / B-MediaCollective / Bread&Roses / CAUSA/ CLG/ Common Dreams / CWA / DIA / FSP /ISO / Jobs w\ Justice / KBOO / Labor Radio / LGBTQ /MRG / Milagro / Mosaic / Move-On / NWLaborPress / Occupy / OEA / Occupy PDX / Peace House / The 99% / Peace worker / PCASC / PPRC / Right 2 Dream Too / Street Roots / Skanner / The Nation / TruthOut / Urban League / VFP / Voz /

Topics: A-F AIPAC / Civil Rights / Coal / Death Penalty / Education / Election 2012 / Fair Trade / F-29 / Environment / Foreclosure /

Topics: G-R Health / Homeless / J-Street / Middle East / Occupy Blog / Peace / Persian / Police / Post Office/ Quotes

Topics: S-Z STRIKE! / Tri-Met / Union / VDay / War & Peace / Women / Waterfront Blues Festival /
Writing / WritingResource

Coming Soon: Service Directory / Editing / Flyers / Ground View / Flying Focus / Literacy / Rashad

The Portland Alliance: B-MEDIA & NAAME  / Portland, OR  Phone: (Cell) (503)-697-1670
Production office and Archives: International Peace Resource Center (IPRC) 
2228 West Kent Avenue, Missoula, Montana 59801-5314
Questions, comments, suggestions: editor@theportlandalliance.org or ThePortlandAlliance@gmail.com
© 1981-2023 NAAME NW Alliance for Alternative Media & Education, dba The Portland Alliance:
All Rights Reserved. A 501C3 Oregon Non-profit Corporation for Public Benefit