Postcards

The Seattle Police Department is phasing out its use of Kawasaki motorcycles for officers and replacing them with Harley-Davidson Road Kings. According to the Associated Press (AP), officials estimate the city will save $40,000 a year by leasing Harleys rather than buying Kawasakis. Officers like them better, too. “It’s kind of like we just gave them a big Christmas present,” Assistant Police Chief Harry Bailey told the AP.

This summer, people who travel to Huntington Station on Washington, D.C.’s Metro line will be able to use a self-cleaning toilet. Metro managers plan to test the toilet for one year at a cost of $66,500, according to The Washington Post. The toilet automatically flushes, and a chemical wash cleans the toilet after every use.

Boston, a 7-year-old American water spaniel and member of the Hennepin County, Minn., K-9 unit, won the U.S. Police Canine Association’s 2003 National Detector Dog Trials in May. Boston competed against 70 other dogs by searching for drugs in five cars and three rooms full of junk, according to the Star Tribune. The dog’s success at the trials reflects plenty of practice sniffing out drugs in Hennepin County. Last year, Boston and his colleague Ally, a yellow labrador, sniffed out 1,645 pounds of marijuana, 41 pounds of cocaine, 20 pounds of methamphetamine and $182,000 in cash.

Making deals behind closed doors has become impossible in Las Cruces, N.M., where newly elected Mayor Bill Mattiace removed the door from his office in March. The mayor started the “no-door policy” in an effort to promote open government, according to the AP.