Postcards

Gotcha! In July, a Sarasota County, Fla., sheriff’s deputy drove his patrol car to a place officers commonly sit to monitor speeding. Instead of catching speeders, he and his car got caught in a 2-foot deep, 5-foot-by-5-foot hole that had been disguised by palm fronds and oak branches. According to the Port Charlotte Sun Herald, the deputy saw the fresh-cut palm fronds but thought residents had simply left the clippings after trimming vegetation.

You get what you pay for? Joe’s Towing and Brown’s Wrecker Service both submitted bids in July to provide towing services for Bloomington, Ind. According to The Pantagraph, the city council voted to renew Brown’s towing contract even though the company proposed raising the per-car charge from $8 to $20, and Joe’s offered to tow the cars for free.

To stalk and protect. In August, a St. Petersburg, Fla., woman filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the St. Petersburg Beach Police Department because the department continues to employ an officer she says has been stalking her for 10 years. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the police chief has known about the officer’s behavior for the past few years and even found one of the officer’s notebooks that contained detailed descriptions of his stalkings.