Welcome to the Thin Bruised Line website and its companion blog. We retained our original online address that was home to The Free Press Advocate, a crusading print and online publication seeking to hold politicians and the mainstream media accountable by reporting what they did not and providing background text to what they did. Doing the same for policing issues just seemed the next logical step.

Both www.freepressadvocate.ca and our associated blog http://thinbruisedline.blogspot.com/ which you can link to at directly from here, are offshoots of the book Thin Bruised Line: The Imminent Threat to Officer and Public Safety (Key Porter, 2010.) Both are attempts to put policing issues into context too seldom reported in the mainstream media. Our focus is issues, not personalities, believing that all forces today face similar issues ranging from too few boots on the ground to leadership, civilian oversight vs political intrusion, the impact of the media and the courts, increasingly complex laws and sometimes unrealistically high public expectations who are at times no longer sure what the police do.

We welcome your input to both sites. We are as good as the input we receive from all ranks in all forces. Meanwhile, our online efforts remain works in progress. In future, beyond sharing links and testimonials, we hope to review books by police authors and hope to publish online articles and downloadable e-books. To that end, we also hope to offer online and classroom workshops for those wishing to write their memoirs, whether one major case or a larger look at life on the frontlines of serving and protecting, or supporting those who do. Keep checking both sites for updates
Purchase Thin Bruised Line
Amazon
Chapters Indigo
International Press

Read Online Reviews
The Globe and Mail
Ottawa Citizen
Blueline.ca
Quill & Quire
R.L. McKee, RCMP S/Sgt.(Rtd)

Read Doug Clark's Blog
Thin Bruised Line Blog

MP3s
03_23_10_Doug_Clark_P1A.mp3
03_23_10_Doug_Clark_P1B
03_23_10_Doug_Clark_P2
Doug_Clark_Mar11
Thin_Bruised_Line_Interview
thinbuisedline_CKNW_03_22_2010
TS_with_Doug_Clark_Mar_22_2010
CFAX Victoria March 29, 2010, Part 1
CFAX Victoria March 29, 2010, Part 2
Brent Holland Show

Signed copies available
doug.clark@sympatico.ca

Other Books by Doug Clark

The Roaring Game

roaringBestselling journalist and amateur curler Doug Clark takes the reader on a fascinating behind-the-scenes journey all the way from the sport’s humble beginnings in sixteenth-century Scotland, to the first international bonspiel played in Buffalo, New York, in 1865 (a match between Canadian won), to where the sport is today.

“Rock-solid look at the roaring game.”—Winnipeg Free Press

“Clark makes it sound like a whole lot of fun.” —Gazette (Montreal)



Dark Paths, Cold Trails

darkpathsIf there is one overriding point that DARK PATHS, COLD TRAILS drives home, it is this: no city, no town, no neighbourhood in Canada is safe from the violent act of a criminal. But through an improbable revolution in policing, led by an unlikely revolutionary, Inspector Ron Mackay of the RCMP-the Mountie from Moosomin, Saskatchewan-a champion has emerged to help take down those who prey on women and children....

“Like many Mounties, Ron MacKay was once cynical about the use of computers and the FBI’s profiling techniques to find and convict serial killers. Today he is an internationally known criminal profiler, the pioneer of Canada’s celebrated ViCLAS computer linkage system and the engaging hero of this entertaining and valuable book.”
Stevie Cameron, best-selling author of The Farm and On the Take.

 

Heart To Heart

heart"Compelling yet light-hearted. Doug brings insight and humour to a daunting and mysterious human journey"
-Lloyd Robertson, Chief Anchor, Senior Editor, CTV News

"Rare insight into the emotions, stresses and trauma of major surgery..."
(From the forward by Roy G. Masters, MD, FACS, FRCSC, University of Ottawa Heart Institute)

"A humourous and heart-warming book that is entertaining and informative....learn from Doug';s experiences."
-W.J. Keon, OC, MD, FRCS, Director General, University of Ottawa Heart Institute

"The best book of its genre to come along in years."
-Terry Kavanaugh, MD, FRCPC, and author of Take Heart!

 

Unkindest Cut

unkindOn May 1, 1992, Chinese businessman Rui-Wen Pan was found guilty of the murder and grisly dismemberment of his former lover, Selina Shen. It had taken three trials and four years before a jury was able to hand down a life sentence, marking the end of one of the most expensive and controversial prosecutions in Canadian legal history.

5.0 out of 5 stars A true crime masterpiece. This is an exceptionally inciteful piece of true crime literature. The author gives incredible in depth information on one of the most bone chilling murders in Canadian History. An absolute must read for anyone interested in crimes and trials.
- Amazon.ca

 


Billion Dollar High

billionForget wheat, forget mining, forget hydro-electric power. Forget the stock exhchange altogether. Canada's largest business doesn't show up in the official statistics - the trade in illegal drugs.

This fact should shock Canadians who admit that the Americans have an enormous drug-problem - but here in Canada?