WILLISTON, Vt. -
Vermont State police are
confronting a prisoner prank and investigating who's behind it. Inmates tasked
with making decals of the official state seal for state police cruisers took
some liberties with the design. And troopers are not happy about it.
Police, troopers, cops,
the fuzz, and pigs; police officers are called a lot of names. Inmates
apparently decided to use their creative sides, making sure that pigs made
their way into the state seal for the first time since it was first designed
more than three centuries ago.
Hundreds of cruisers
patrol Vermont with the state seal standing out on both front doors. The seal
was originally designed by Ira Allen in the 1770s. There's a tree, mountains
and a cow to honor dairy farming in Vermont.
Four years ago the state
wanted more decals for cruisers, giving the job to the prison print shop in
Windsor. Inmates were supposed to load the state crest image in as given to
them, but someone decided to make a major change-- payback perhaps.
In the new decal, one of
the spots on the cow is actually a pig. Pig is a derogatory term for police. A
state trooper in Southern Vermont just noticed the altered artwork.
"And I apologize to
them," Vt. Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said. "I think it's
really unfortunate that somebody took it upon themselves to reach out and do
this to them."
Pallito says the decals
were recently put on cruisers. As many as 30 have the prankster pigs.
"We'll have to make
sure we do a better job of quality assurance in the future to make sure this
doesn't happen again," Pallito said.
State police aren't
laughing either. In a statement, Maj. Bill Sheets said "While some may
find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the
expense of the taxpayers."
Pallito expects the bill
to replace the offending swine will run about $800.
The more you look at the
decal the more you may see. We've heard from people who say in addition to the
pig, there may also be a silhouette of a naked women underneath the cow.
As far as catching the inmate or person who
did this, Pallito says it could be difficult because there is a lot of turnover
in jail.
Modified decal with pig
Modified decal with pig
Cow on older decals
