Fall River Police Chief to Step Down Following Bar Videos

Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said he will not be renewing Police Chief Albert Dupere's contract when it expires later this year.

The decision came after Coogan viewed video secretly shot by a television station that reportedly showed Dupere on several occasions drinking at a bar with subordinate officers during the working day.

Dupere viewed portions of the video on Thursday, and on Friday met with Coogan, according to WPRI, the Providence-based station that says it shot the video. Coogan confirmed last week that an investigation was underway in connection with allegations that Dupere was drinking during business hours.

Dupere reportedly exercised a clause in his contract that lets him return to the role of deputy chief, a position he held before being appointed chief by former mayor Jasiel Correia in 2017. He is expected to return to the deputy position beginning a week from Monday.

Last week Dupere admitted to the Fall River Herald News that he has visited St. James Irish Pub multiple times with other officers before the end of the working day. He said that sometimes they take lunch breaks at 3 p.m. and then use "time accumulated" to get out early some Friday afternoons.

The news comes weeks after Coogan raised questions about the level of Dupere's unused vacation buyback payments and vowed to tweak the police chief's contract.

WPRI "recorded extensive undercover video of the chief and other Fall River police officers as part of an ongoing investigation that is slated to air in the coming weeks," the station said.