Holly MatkinMemphis, TN – A self-described guerilla group vandalized two Geico billboards with anti-police messages just a short distance away from where Memphis Police Officer Darrell Adams was killed in the line of duty..
One of the billboards is located on the right side of I-40 westbound, merging onto I-69 south, WATN reported.
The second is located on the left side of I-40 eastbound, approximately a half mile north of Watkins.
An “activist art collective” group calling themselves “INDECLINE” was quick to claim credit for the vandalisms and posted photos of the altered billboards on Twitter Tuesday.
“DEFUND POLICE SEE ALL THE LIVES YOU COULD SAVE,” one billboard now reads.
“DEFUND POLICE DO YOU LIKE SAVING MONEY?” the second sign says.
“It’s that lil fuggin gecko again with a bit of good ol’ fashioned wisdom for how to survive the mean streets of a late-stage capitalist surveillance state,” INDECLINE tweeted Tuesday morning. “Before/After on two billboards in Memphis, TN. Special thanks to @TheGEICOGeckofor the pro-Bono celebrity appearance…”
It's that lil fuggin gecko again with a bit of good ol' fashioned wisdom for how to survive the mean streets of a late-stage capitalist surveillance state. Before/After on two billboards in Memphis, TN.
Special thanks to @TheGEICOGecko for the pro-Bono celebrity appearance… pic.twitter.com/Tp9qr6EwyN
— INDECLINE (@thisisindecline) October 5, 2021
Both signs stand near the location where 34-year-old Officer Adams was fatally struck by a semi-truck while investigating a crash on Oct. 2, FOX News reported.
Memphis Police Association President Lieutenant Essica Cage-Rosario told FOX News her fellow officers are saddened and frustrated to see the anti-police messages, especially in an area where yet another of their coworkers died in the line of duty.
“Officers are already suffering the loss of a coworker. This is the third officer we’ve lost in just as many months,” Lt. Cage-Rosario said. “To see someone put up a billboard in the same area saying ‘defund the police’ is a slap in the face.”
The lieutenant noted the vandalism was “very brazen and very unnecessary,” and said the vast majority of Memphis citizens are very supportive of law enforcement and fire personnel, FOX News reported.
INDECLINE, which has also vandalized billboards with anti-police messages in other cities, told Brooklyn Street Art they want to see law enforcement abolished.
“When we talk about abolishing police, we mean it’s past time to reimagine the system in its entirety,” the group said. “Remember, it was once impossible for many Americans to imagine a country not organized around slavery.”
