RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Police are investigating after the Richmond Police Memorial was defaced with red spray paint at its new location in Byrd Park Wednesday morning.

The spray paint beneath the statue reads, “Justice for Alton.” The statue of the police officer was spray painted with a big red “X.”

Retired Police officer, Glenwood Burley, says the vandalism was “painful” and “disappointing.”

“It’s not a good morning for all of the efforts we put forth to bring sunshine on this beautiful memorial,” Burley said.

Burley is also the chairman of the statue’s research and relocation committee. He said contractors are moving forward with their plans to put in a walkway for handicapped accessibility for people to come down to the statue.

“None of this is going to affect this committee and this purpose,” Burley said. “The community should hold its head high. We are not going to let this knock us down. We’ll continue with it. We’ll have a ceremony in the next month or two to celebrate the new location and get it cleaned back up.”

Burley said special crews will have to use two solutions to clean the spray paint off of the statue.

Richmond police say they are looking to see if nearby surveillance videos captured the vandalism and the committee also had plans to put lights and cameras in place.

“The fact is that this was a blatant and despicable act of cowardliness,” he said. “I would have thought that Richmond with its relationship between the law enforcement and community, that this would not occur here.”

Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham is set to address the public about the vandalism at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.This is a developing story. Stay with 8News online and on air for the latest updates.Find 8News on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; send your news tips to iReport8@wric.com.