Business & Tech

Walpole Illustrator Pairs Cartoons With Actual Police Log Incidents

"A call made about a couple arguing loudly is nothing unusual, to find out it was a fight over a sandwich- that makes it great," local illustrator and Walpole resident Richard Dugdale said of his new book.

Many people are intrigued any time a news outlet posts a local police blotter or incident report.

Walpole resident and illustrator Richard Dugdale turned intrigue into art when he authored a book of illustrations based on actual incidents pulled straight from the Walpole Police logs, albeit with a twist of his own.

Dugdale's book Walpole Police Log Illustrated: Real Calls to Police in Suburbia is filled with illustrations that are comical depictions of police log incidences from the Walpole Police Department gathered over a period of about two years.

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"Some are funny on their own, others are typical and I have just depicted them in a more abstract way," he said.

Dugdale, who is an avid illustrator, had the idea to bring some of the log items that caught his eye to life; which, in turn, helped him in his fight for his own life.

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"I have been following the log for years and a couple years ago I had the idea. I was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and it motivated me to do it- instead of thinking about it," he said.

Dugdale, who graduated from Walpole High School in 1979, changed the addresses of the incidences, otherwise, the description of the calls are pulled directly from the logs.

"Unlike many police logs, the Walpole police log has always included more detailed descriptions. As an example, a call made about a couple arguing loudly is nothing unusual, to find out it was a fight over a sandwich- that makes it great," he said.

The book, which was released in mid-October, is self-published and is available to be purchased online for $23.95 (soft cover).

"This was a lot of fun to work on," Dugdale said. "I have been collecting the material for a couple years. I cut and paste the ones I like into a Word document. I recently reviewed it and saw that I had a lot of material to work with."

"The actual illustrating took only a couple weeks. I would formulate the images in my head and then do some sketches. When it came to doing each illustration, they were probably less than 40 minutes each because the ground work was done. I have had the idea of a children's book format for adults for a few years, this was my chance to act on it," he said.

To see a preview of the book or to make a purchase go to: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3632910


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