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A community group has urged people not to graffiti their buildings with tributes to the young men who died in the A66 crash.
The public plea came as fundraisers for the two police officers who were killed in the head-on collision near Middlesbrough on Saturday morning broke the £1 million barrier.
Cleveland Police have arrested 17 people following the crash between a VW Passat, which was heading in the wrong direction on the dual-carriageway, and a marked armed response vehicle.
Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, were the officers killed.
Those in the Passat were Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak. They were pronounced dead at the scene at South Bank.
The Passat had been pursued by police following an earlier incident in which a house in the Acklam area of Middlesbrough, linked to Worthy, was rammed by a vehicle.
The pursuit was aborted when the Passat went the wrong way down the A66.
Tees Valley Active posted on Facebook after graffiti was daubed on the East Middlesbrough Events Centre.
Messages on walls included: “RIP The Boys”, “Never be Forgotten RIP The Lads” and the initials of those in the Passat with “Rest easy boys”.
The Facebook post said: “We understand that people want to express their emotions and pay their respects, but damaging buildings that are being used to support local residents ultimately impacts the same community we are all trying to look after.
“There are other ways we can come together to remember, pay tribute and show our support without damaging facilities that local people rely upon.”
The message also asked about a company which could clean off the graffiti.
Meanwhile, two online fundraisers for the police officers have broken the £1 million barrier.
A GoFundMe page organised by the Cleveland Police Federation has reached more than £959,000 by Wednesday morning while another GoFundMe page for them had reached over £45,000.
