A group of police officers was told by a barista to leave a Starbucks store because, according to the Tempe Officers Association, another customer “did not feel secure.” The Tempe Officers Association tweeted much to their dismay about the experience of the Independence Day.
At the Starbucks near Scottsdale and McKellips highways on Friday evening, TOA gave a complete breakdown of what six policemen said happened. Here you can read about it:
“Yesterday, on Independence Day, six Tempe police officers stopped by the Starbucks at Scottsdale Road and McKellips for coffee. The officers paid for their drinks and stood together having a cup of coffee before their long Fourth of July shift. They were approached by a barista, who knew one of the officers by name, because he is a regular at that location. The barista said that a customer “did not feel safe” because of the police presence. The barista asked the officers to move out of the customer’s line of sight or to leave. Disappointed, the officers did in fact leave. This treatment of public safety workers could not be more disheartening. While the barista was polite, making such a request at all was offensive. Unfortunately, such treatment has become all too common in 2019. We know this is not a national policy at Starbucks Corporate and we look forward to working collaboratively with them on this important dialogue.”
A Starbucks spokesperson, Reggie Borges, made the following statement on the telephone incident:
“We have reached out to the Tempe police department to try to better understand what took place and apologize for any misunderstandings or inappropriate behavior that may have taken place. We work with them a lot on events, like Coffee with a Cop, in our stores and we have a great relationship with them, so we are surprised that something like this may have taken place. I just want them to understand how much we value them and what they bring to the community. It is too early to say what type of ramifications employees will face, if any. But we want it to be known that everyone who walks into our store should feel welcomed and embraced and to have the best Starbucks experience— and when that doesn’t happen, that is not indicative of the kind of welcoming environment that we want to provide.”
On Friday night, the Tempe Police Department published its own statement stating it reached out to the corporate office of Starbucks that informed the department that the event was not in line with Starbucks principles and will continue to work to strengthen their partnership with law enforcement. #DumpStarbucks and #BoycottStarbucks is currently trending on Twitter in the United States after this incident.
