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Billboard supporting Yuba/Sutter County Police Vandalized

YUBA CITY (CBS 13) — Community members discovered spray paint vandalism targeted at police in Sutter County.

A billboard showing support for local officers was hit with major damage this week and is now covered in orange and black graffiti.

"There was certainly a fear of originally putting it up in the first place," said Stacy Runyen, president of Back the Badge Yuba/Sutter Counties.

Back the Badge is a local nonprofit that helped put this billboard up. Runyen said it's unclear what the graffiti is supposed to mean and that it's frustrating to see this happen to a billboard meant to be more than just a sign.

"It was just to boost morale and not just the law enforcement officers themselves but their families that drive by it every day as well," Runyen said.

Yuba City resident Nikki Padilla said this is not the right way to express frustrations.

"Maybe I would go to the county meetings or the meetups. I would do something different," she said.

The Yuba and Sutter county community sprung into action quickly. Local business owner Cameron Elkins, who helped fund the billboard, is crowdsourcing again for a quick replacement.

"A lot of us here in Yuba, Sutter counties are just tired of that anti-cop rhetoric," Elkins said.

Dozens of businesses have signed on.

"We have to respond against hate with big love. And that just means we want to take what was meant for evil and turn that into a positive," Elkins said.

Organizers said the billboard has only been up for a few months. But it will be back, with community support stronger than ever.

"The Yuba Sutter community has always been very law enforcement friendly. That's the reason it's up there, it's the community that put it up there," Runyen said.

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