The alleged mistreatment of the Riverside County sheriff’s deputies took place Thursday at a Starbucks near the campus of the University of California, Riverside.
The officers, who were in uniform, stood at the counter for about five minutes without being served and eventually decided to leave, according to statements from Starbucks and social media posts by Sheriff Chad Bianco.
“There is simply no excuse for how two Riverside deputies were ignored for nearly 5 minutes at our store on Thursday evening,” a Starbucks spokesman said in a statement. “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.”
The Riverside incident marks the third time this year that Starbucks has been accused of disrespecting law enforcement officers.
“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 U.S. retail, had said in a statement.
In November, a police chief in Oklahoma complained after a Starbucks employee labeled cups for several officers with the word “PIG.”
“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 again apologized and fired the employee.
Bianco referred to the prior incidents Friday, writing on Twitter, “The anti police culture repeatedly displayed by Starbucks employees must end.”