click to enlarge Photo by Damon Davis

Just saw this today after talking to students at Lindenwood about the history of and current state of policing. A photo posted by damondavis (@damondavis) on Jan 19, 2016 at 10:51am PST

A pro-police billboard located at the corner of Arsenal and Gravois was defaced this week, complete with a target spraypainted on an image of an officer.The sign, which was spotted in its vandalized state by local artist, musician and activist Damon Davis on Tuesday afternoon, initially read "St. Louis supports our police." The individual who painted over it it covered the word "supports" and changed the message to "St. Louis don't trust our police," obscuring the ad's web address with a tag name that likely just rocketed to the top of the SLMPD's "most wanted graffiti artists" list.The address on the sign links to a Facebook page for an organization calling itself the "St. Louis area Support our LEO Group." It is a closed group consisting of — if Facebook profile pictures can be taken as empirical evidence — a whole bunch of white people (and some cats, and such). Its official description states: "This Group was created as a meeting place for those who have a desire and passion to let LEO everywhere know how much we appreciate their loyalty and dedication to keeping our communities safe. It also is a place to announce upcoming events and Rallies. It is not a place to discuss other negative issues or debates. Please let's have a professional place to go that is free from the debris that is front and center on so many other social media sites."Hear that, Internet commenters? The people responsible for this billboard don't like your "negative issues or debates." They would prefer a place that is "free from the debris." That means they want civility in online discussion. You guys think you can resist the urge to post all that insane shit you always post? Just in response to this story? Just this once? JustOf course you can't.