Two California deputies were ignored in a Starbucks, officials say
Starbucks is apologizing after a California sheriff’s office said two of its deputies were ignored in a store.
“Two of our deputies were refused service at Starbucks,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said on Twitter. “The anti police culture repeatedly displayed by Starbucks employees must end.”
The department said on Twitter on Friday it was aware of the “cop with no coffee” incident that took place Thursday night.
Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges told CNN the deputies were ignored for nearly five minutes — and there’s no excuse for that.
“We are deeply sorry and reached out to apologize directly to them. We take full responsibility for any intentional or unintentional disrespect shown to law enforcement on whom we depend every day to keep our stores and communities safe,” Borges said.
The deputies were “laughed at” and “completely ignored,” Bianco said in a video. “They tried to get served, they asked if anyone was going to help them,” he said.
Eventually, they left, Bianco said.
CNN has reached out to the Riverside County’s Sheriff’s Department, but has not heard back.
The incident happened about an hour before closing, according to Borges.
“We are in communication w/ @Starbucks Corporate addressing the issue of deputies being denied service,” the sheriff’s department tweeted.
All the baristas who were on the shift when the incident occurred will not be allowed to work as Starbucks investigates the incident. They will not have any shifts scheduled until the investigation is over.
This is the third time this year Starbucks has come under fire for its treatment of police officers.
Last month, the police chief in Kiefer, Oklahoma, said one of his officers picked up a coffee order from a local Starbucks that had the word “PIG” printed on the label.
“This cup of coffee for a ‘pig’ is just another little flag. It’s another tiny symptom and a nearly indiscernible shout from a contemptuous, roaring and riotous segment of a misanthropic society that vilifies those who stand for what’s right and glorifies the very people who would usher in the destruction of the social fabric,” Chief Johnny O’Mara wrote on Facebook.
Starbucks apologized and suspended a barista pending an investigation.
And in July, the Tempe Officers Association in Arizona said six officers were asked by a barista to leave because, the barista said, a customer “did not feel safe” in their presence.
“When those officers entered the store and a customer raised a concern over their presence, they should have been welcomed and treated with dignity and the utmost respect by our partners (employees). Instead, they were made to feel unwelcome and disrespected, which is completely unacceptable,” Rossann Williams, Starbucks executive vice president and president of US retail, had said in a statement.
