Behind the Badge in River City: A Portland Police Memoir, Paperback

Pimps, prostitutes, safe crackers, murderers, drug addicts, thieves and thugs--and of course, the Portland Police Bureau--Don DuPay introduces them all in this candid, entertaining and brutal look at the stark realities of police work.

DuPay, a 17-year veteran of the force, has written an intimate memoir that will take the reader on an unforgettable journey, pulling back the curtain to reveal the true and shocking machinations that fueled police culture, during his time. It's a world of danger and contradictions, where officers are torn between their duties and the demands of survival. Police officers get dressed, strap on a gun, and go to war. It's a different war every day but it's still a war.

In this unforgettable story, the reader is never left to choose between the good guys or the bad guys. DuPay keeps it real as he wrestles with a vocation that nearly destroyed him. DuPay provides, startling revelations about the corruption, burn-out and heartache that he experienced during his time on the force--dynamics which remain a common pattern in long-term law enforcement careers.

Second edition includes new stories and photos.

Don DuPay was born in Wenatchee Washington, spent several years in Montana and finally came to Portland Oregon in 1947, at the age of eleven, to live permanently. He graduated from Grant High School in 1954, and then studied for two years at Lewis and Clark College. DuPay went on to spend three years active service in the U.S. Navy as a communications technician, performing top secret radio surveillance on the Baltic Sea. After completing military service he joined the Portland Police Bureau in 1961. Promoted to detective in 1967, he remained with PPB until 1978, when he resigned from the force for documented health reasons. DuPay subsequently became director of security for the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland for several years during the 1980s. Years later, he co-hosted a cable access television program called Cannabis Common Sense, for almost five years. DuPay currently resides with his fourth wife, writer, poet and artist Theresa Griffin Kennedy, in Portland, where he continues to write and be published.