In this issue: Around The Nation: A coast-to-coast roundup of police news. Speaking in tongues: Phoenix tries Arabic language training. A strangler returns: Wichita hopes new clues will break case. Before & after: Photos may be key when executing search warrants. In the swim: Water skills are less crucial than diversity. Getting along: The growing appeal of sharing ideas & resources. People & Places: Vive la France; Berry nice; ballot boxing; gender bender; Fagan’s fadeout. Short Takes: News in easy-to-swallow capsule form. Courtside seats: Recent rulings from state courts. Too much of a good thing: Is medical privacy law backfiring? Going public: Sheriff makes his budgetary case in print. Off the hook: DoJ closes the book on two Louisiana agencies. Criminal Justice Library: The competing needs of liberty & order. Other Voices: Editorial views from the nation’s newspapers. Time Capsules: Events of 25 years ago. Upcoming Events: Professional development opportunities. --top--

People & Places They like France      A Baltimore law-enforcement veteran who has earned the praises of both the Fraternal Order of Police and the Ohio ACLU chapter has been chosen to head Cincinnati’s Citizen Complaint Authority.      Wendell M. France began his new job on April 26. The authority, which had been without a leader for nine months, was created in the aftermath of a fatal shooting in 2001 that sparked three days of rioting. It was formed by combining Cincinnati’s Office of Municipal Investigation and the Citizens Police Review Panel. Both agencies were dissolved by 2003.... --top-- Berry nice      With his experience coming up through the ranks of the large urban police department of Hartford, Conn., then leading the smaller suburban force in Trumbull, coupled with the fact that he is black, James O. Berry gives the town of Manchester, Conn., a police chief who can provide many differing perspectives on issues.      Berry, 54, was sworn in as Manchester’s chief in March, becoming the first African American to hold the position.... --top-- Ballot boxing      It is not only in Louisiana and some jurisdictions in Texas that residents vote for their police chief. The practice exists in a handful of communities throughout the state of New Hampshire, as well.      One of these, Sandown, is still without a new chief because of alleged voting irregularities in the election that was held in March. ... --top-- Gender bender      While April Norman’s gender never made her unusual as a member of the Eugene, Ore., Police Department, it certainly made her one of a kind at the Lewiston, Idaho, Police Department, where her law-enforcement career began nearly 30 years ago.      Norman, 50, retired from the Eugene department in March. She got her start in law enforcement as the only woman on the Lewiston force and, according to newspaper accounts at the time, the first female officer in the state. During her four years as a cop in Lewiston, Norman can remember being assigned less hazardous duty than her male co-workers. And when a case involved the accidental hanging of a child, Norman’s supervisor at the time made her leave the scene.... --top-- Fagan’s fadeout      A drunken brawl in a Scottsdale, Ariz., hotel between a father and his son led to the unexpected retirement in March of San Francisco’s emergency services director, Alex Fagan Sr.      Fagan served with the city’s police department, for 32 years, coming up through the ranks as a police officer, narcotics investigator and homicide inspector. He oversaw the agency’s fiscal division before becoming assistant chief under Earl Sanders. ... --top--