Mike Harbin Sr. has close friends on the Auburn Police Department, so the senseless and brutal killings of four Lakewood officers in a Parkland coffee Shop cut him to the bone.

Frustrated and deeply moved, Harbin began to think what he could do to express his feelings.

“I just got too upset over it, and I got to thinking about it,” Harbin said. “I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted do something for them to let them know how I feel.”

But Harbin, owner of Main Street Signs, had an answer and it took the form of a 3-foot-wide, 20-foot-long white banner. He fetched it out of a storage shed and set to work.

When he was finished with his task, he presented the banner to the City of Auburn. Today. it hangs on the Auburn Justice Center, bearing a simple expression: “We appreciate and support our Auburn Police Department.”

The idea is that anybody can sign, and hundreds of Auburn residents and officials already have.

“When I first heard what happened in Lakewood, I said this just isn’t right, I am going to do something for the police here in Auburn,” Harbin said. “My wife, Thel, was all over this, too. It shows how people in Auburn feel for those guys who got killed the way they did. It just hit me very hard.”

Auburn police thanked Harbin for the gesture.

“I’m absolutely sure that any officers who see that will be very appreciative,” said Auburn Assistant Police Chief Larry Miller. “It’s always heartening to know as police officers that the community appreciates us.”