Vermont Super Troopers: We’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you!

This story might or might not be funny to you. I think it is funny.

It seems some prison inmates in Vermont make decals for state police cars. The prisoners made up a batch in 2008. The insignia includes a spotted cow. The only problem with the 2008 batch was that the cow had a discreet pig placed on its shoulder. Pig is, of course, a derogatory term for police.

The Rutland Herald, a newspaper that I actually bought at a small store in Rutland when I visited there in 1995, reported that the state ordered 60 decals last year and it was only recently discovered that the little pig was on the cow. It reportedly will cost $780 for replacement of the decals, according to the Rutland newspaper.

Of course, the state police and corrections department all are reacting as if they had let a serial rapist drive one of the patrol cars out of the prison yard. One comment to the Herald suggested that the state police take a Sharpie marker and, with a few strokes, can easily alter the alleged “pig” shape.

There are other actions that the police can take, at least in my estimation. One is to get a simpler logo. Just a long banner with “VERMONT POLICE” on it. Another is to not take themselves so damned serious. And, just a thought, but maybe the person who caught the prank should have just kept his mouth shut.

Is there some coincidence that the goofy cops portrayed in the extremely satiric and very ribald 2001 movie “Super Troopers” were Vermont State Police?