BRICKBATS.

• Author: Oliver, Charles
• Position: Permit for snow shoveling; charges against school personnel for abuse of autistic students; illegal use of police databases

Police in Normandy, Missouri, issued a warning to a boy for shoveling snow from his grandmother's home without a permit. The authorities defended the move by saying they've gotten calls about teens pretending to offer snow shoveling services while actually casing homes for potential theft opportunities.

The Okaloosa County, Florida, sheriff's office has charged a teacher and two aides at a school for the disabled with abusing autistic students. Deputies say they locked a 10-year-old and two 8-year-olds in a dark room as punishment. In addition, deputies say they blew a whistle close to one child who is sensitive to noise and held his arms down to keep him from covering his ears.

An Australian police officer has been sentenced to six months in jail for illegally using police databases to snoop on potential dates. Adrian Trevor Moore looked up information on 92 women he found on dating websites. His attorney says he was trying to do "due diligence" before deciding whether to meet them in person, but Moore accessed several women's information on multiple occasions (in one case, 13 times) over a number of years.

A Lethbridge, Alberta, police officer is under investigation after being caught on video repeatedly running over an injured deer with a police truck. The officer responded to a call reporting an injured animal in the street and decided it needed to be euthanized. Police Chief Rob Davis says officers in these cases typically shoot animals, not run them over.

A city ordinance in St. Peters, Missouri, requires all lawns to be at least half...