You can easily spot Vermont State Police cars – they’re the ones with the pig on the doors. It isn’t supposed to be there, but it is – check the spot on the cow’s shoulder.
Prison inmates who make decals for the Vermont State Police slipped a pig into the official seal, and up to 30 patrol cars wound up sporting the subliminal epithet.
The police emblem features a cow, an evergreen tree and snowy mountains along with three unidentifiable gold colored figures. (The Vermont State Seal features sheaves of grain, but these look more like mushrooms or Martians.)
Back in 2008, an inmate artist at the Northwest State Correctional Facility went into the computer file and modified one of the cow's spots to resemble a pig, the common derogatory term for police. In 2009, the state police ordered 16-inch door decals.
Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said he believes 60 altered decals were made. Some new cruisers have two, while older cars may have just one if a door was replaced. New decals, costing $780 apiece, are expected Monday.
State officials learned of the prank last Thursday. They blamed quality control at the Vermont Correctional Industries Print Shop in St. Alban. Prison authorities are trying to identify the inmate behind the prank.
Compare the car decal with the state police shoulder patch, which , according to their website, "is a modification of the Seal of Vermont and the State's Coat of Arms originally designed by Ira Allen of the Green Mountain Boys' fame.”
The official state seal looks like:
Clever artists!
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