Florida Sheriff's Official Rug Includes Typo of the Year

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office recently spent $81 million on a sparkling new palace of law enforcement on Florida's Gulf Coast. There's a state-of-the-art 911 center, top-of-the-line hurricane protection built to withstand Category 5 devastation, and a high-tech data center. There are also some spiffy accoutrements, such as a bright-green...

By Tim Elfrink

January 15, 2015

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The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office recently spent $81 million on a sparkling new palace of law enforcement on Florida's Gulf Coast. There's a state-of-the-art 911 center, top-of-the-line hurricane protection built to withstand Category 5 devastation, and a high-tech data center.

There are also some spiffy accoutrements, such as a bright-green rug with the sheriff's official seal, which includes an outline of Florida and the motto: "IN DOG WE TRUST."

Uh-oh.

For months, this rug lay in lobby of #Florida sheriff's office saying "In Dog We Trust.'' http://t.co/VCSQNUpbYB pic.twitter.com/v9u8jcoir2
— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) January 14, 2015

Sadly, the rug is not the result of an official county policy placing the justice system's highest trust in a neighborhood pug wearing a hand-knit sweater.

Instead, a county spokeswoman tells the Tampa Bay Times that a typo on proofs sent to the rug-maker was to blame. The rug will be replaced at a cost of $500.

Update: You could own the IN DOG WE TRUST rug! The typo has generated so much hilarity online today that the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has decided to auction off the mistake.

"We are actively exploring how to do an online auction and donate the proceeds to an animal rescue organization," Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri tells the Tampa Bay Times.

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Tim Elfrink is a former investigative reporter and managing editor for Miami New Times. He has won the George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Contact: Tim Elfrink

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