Brickbats: October 2023
News of politicians, police, and bureaucrats behaving badly from around the world.
Police in the United Kingdom failed to solve any burglaries in almost half of the neighborhoods in England and Wales in the past three years. Last October, all of the chief constables in England and Wales promised to have an officer respond to every reported burglary. That promise turned out to exclude most burglaries in garages, sheds, and other outbuildings.
San Francisco officials agreed to pay up to $19.5 million to pay for damages caused by homeless people housed at the Hotel Whitcomb as part of the city's emergency shelter program during the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, officials say they expect to pay out some $26 million for damages to hotels caused by the program.
From March to May 2023, Christopher Volpe filed more than 200 complaints about New York Police Department vehicles illegally parked—that includes double-parked, parked on the sidewalk, and parked in bicycle lanes—outside the precinct house in his neighborhood. A University of California, Berkeley study has found that 70 of the city's 77 precinct houses regularly have vehicles illegally parked outside. Police officials say they have been working to correct the problem.
The U.S. Navy had the National Park Service remove two privately owned webcams from Cabrillo National Monument after those cameras captured two Navy ships almost colliding in San Diego Bay. In a statement, Navy officials cited security reasons, saying the 24-hour video feed from the cameras revealed "aircraft hangars and flight lines….and the tracking of military personnel." But the cameras' owner said they had been in place for almost 10 years, and the Navy never raised any security concerns before the embarrassing incident.
The Tennessee Comptroller's Office has found that then–Marion County Road Superintendent Jim Hawk allowed a county employee to use county equipment to haul loads of county-owned dirt, which the employee sold for $50 to $75 per load. At least one load was delivered to Hawk's home. Hawk contended that the dirt was free to the public but he could not provide any proof that the county ever advertised that the dirt was available to the public.
The number of gas boilers sold in Germany more than doubled in the first quarter of 2023 amid a proposed law that starting January 1, 2024, would require buildings to install heat pumps instead of boilers. Building owners say heat pumps are too expensive. Vonovia, Europe's largest landlord, said it has been unable to connect 70 percent of the heat pumps it has installed in Germany because the nation's electric grid is already strained.
A government official in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh was suspended after he ordered the Kherkatta dam reservoir drained so he could retrieve his phone. Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas dropped the phone into the water while taking a selfie. Workers pumped more than 2 million liters of water from the reservoir.
A Florida police officer was charged with credit card fraud of more than $100 and use of the identification of a dead person after officials said she used a dead man's credit card to make several purchases. Officials said that after responding to a medical call where a man died from cardiac arrest, she took photos of the man's credit card and used it to order fast food and buy eyelash extensions.
In Texas, the Lubbock Independent School District placed a police officer on administrative leave after a firearm was found in a faculty restroom. The officer reportedly left the gun in the restroom. The school system did not release the officer's name or say who found the gun.