In this issue: Around The Nation: A coast-to-coast roundup of police news. People & Places: Making history in Louisiana; private practice; these cops are tops; Crews control; now you see ‘em, now you don’t. Roll out the Barrows: Hartford runs out of patience with acting chief of troubled police department. First-response ability: Medical kits gives deputies a life-saving edge. Better safe than sorry: Rhode Island troopers get a secure place to store their weapons. Let’s go to the videotape: Awaiting the findings of a “proper & fair” investigation into the beating of a suspect in Philadelphia. What’s the score? A change in test rankings riles Fort Wayne cops. The people’s choice: IUPA head wins a second term. Too little, too late: Report rips flaws in NYPD discipline system. Good cop, bad cop: Pittsburgh residents are asked to report cops’ deeds, good & bad. Death takes no holiday: Homicides surge upward in LA. New faces on the block: A city disbands its police force, but not everyone is happy that the sheriff’s deputies are taking over. Forum: Outside monitoring of police is fine, but the job shouldn’t go to the Feds. Mum’s the word: Fairfax residents are reminded that they don’t have to talk to the press. Slurring his words: A top aide’s racial slurs bring down a chief in Louisiana. --top--

People & Places Making history       The state of Louisiana went beyond making news with the recent appointment of a new State Police superintendent. It made history.       The promotion of Lieut. Col. Terry Landry, who had been deputy superintendent since last August, gives the State Police its first-ever African American superintendent. Landry will replace Col. W.R. “Rut” Whittington, a 27-year veteran who was superintendent for more than four years... --top-- Private practice       After 31 years with the New York City Police Department, the agency’s second-in-command, First Deputy Police Commissioner Patrick Kelleher, is calling it a career.       Kelleher, a Brooklyn native who joined the department in 1969, will be moving to the private sector to become director of worldwide security at Merrill Lynch. The job, which some view as the city’s premier private-security position for retired top police officials, entails overseeing fraud control, executive protection, corporate security, and physical security for Merrill Lynch’s 68,000 employees... --top-- Top of the heap       Some won for bravery and others for their dogged pursuit of an investigation, but in the eyes of their colleagues and the National Association of Police Organizations, each of the 10 law enforcement officers honored this summer by the group were this year’s TOP COPS.       Among the winners of NAPO’s seventh annual TOP COPS honors, presented in ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on August 5, were State Trooper Scott D. Quist of the Alaska Department of Public Safety’s division of fish and wildlife protection. Quist saved the lives of two men who had been reported missing in the midst of severe weather conditions in the Alaskan wilderness. After a search team failed to locate the men, the trooper radioed that he would be making “one last pass” as the daylight started to fade. He found them about seven miles from a nearby town... --top-- Crews control       Morale at the Memphis Police Department is up a few notches recently, buoyed by the selection of MPD veteran Walter Crews as the city’s new police director and the long-awaited promotions of more than 100 new supervisors.       Crews, 58, had served as the MPD’s interim director since last December when he was tapped by Mayor Willie Herenton to lead the department. In winning the permanent appointment, he faced formidable competition from Sonya Proctor, a former interim police chief in Washington, D.C., Joseph J. Santiago, the police director of Newark, N.J., and Gil Kerlikowske, a former police commissioner in Buffalo, N.Y., who now serves as deputy director of the federal Officer of Community Oriented Policing Services... --top-- Now you see them, now you don’t       Recent months have seen a number of changes in the face of law enforcement around the country:       ¶ In Fountain, Colo., Police Chief Larry Baldanado said he had enough after 11 years at the top. Baldanado, a 24-year veteran, said he will assume the position of deputy chief until a replacement is found. “It’s time that I stop and savor what I have already done,” he told The Denver Post….. --top--