Charles Oliver: Former officer works overtime improperly

Published 11:58 pm Tuesday, July 22, 2014

• Stephen F. Hall has pleaded guilty to theft by deception and falsifying a government record. Hall, a former officer with the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (Utah), fabricated as many as 50 DUI cases and collected thousands of dollars in improper overtime while working on a special DUI patrol.

• Security at the Edinburgh, Scotland, airport demanded that Matthew Bartlett cover up the logo on his shirt before he could board a flight to Shetland. They said his shirt could upset other passengers. Bartlett plays in a ska band, and his shirt had the band’s name — Bombskare — on it.

• A Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, police officer answering a call about a suspicious van shot and killed a dog inside the van. In his report the officer said a pitbull in the van tried to lunge through the window at him, so he had to shoot in self-defense. We have only the officer’s word the dog tried to attack, but photos of the dog show it clearly wasn’t a pitbull. It was a Labrador retriever. Photos also show the van’s window was rolled about halfway up. The owner said he just stepped inside a local cafe to grab some breakfast.

• An internal report found the Department of Veterans Affairs has been overpaying many employees, costing the agency tens of millions of dollars. Top officials were made aware of the problem two years ago but stopped a broad internal review to identify exactly who was being overpaid and to correct the situation.

• A British court has ordered the Greater Manchester police department to pay just over $22,000 to street preacher John Craven. Craven was arrested and held in isolation for 19 hours after he quoted a passage of the Bible condemning homosexuality to two teens who’d asked him his views on the topic. The teens then complained to police that the biblical passage was “insulting” and caused them “harassment and distress.” Prosecutors later declined to charge Craven.

• A British government inquiry has found that hardline Muslims tried to impose an “intolerant and aggressive” Islamic agenda on some schools in the city of Birmingham, including separation of boys and girls in lessons, banning Christmas celebrations and other discrimination against non-Muslims. The report also cited instances where pupils were banned from singing and listening to music and forbidden to draw faces in art classes.

Charles Oliver is a staff writer for The Daily Citizen.