A California Starbucks reportedly denied police officers service, in the latest of several alleged anti-cop acts at the coffee chain this year
- Two uniformed police officers said a Riverside, California, Starbucks denied them service, CBS Los Angeles reported.
- This is just the latest of several alleged police discrimination acts at Starbucks this year.
- In July, Tempe police officers tweeted that they were asked to leave an Arizona Starbucks location. In November, an Oklahoma Starbucks employee was fired after a police officer received his coffee order with the word "PIG" written on it.
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Two uniformed police officers said a Riverside, California, Starbucks refused to serve them, CBS Los Angeles reported.
"Two uniformed deputies say this Riverside Starbucks denied them service," reporter Nicole Comstock wrote on Twitter. "The Riverside Co. Sheriff says the anti-police culture at Starbucks has to end. Starbucks tells @CBSLA the deputies were ignored for 5 minutes & apologizes for any 'intentional or unintentional disrespect.'"
This isn't the first time Starbucks has been called out for police discrimination this year.
In July, the Tempe Officers Association tweeted that six officers, including some veterans, entered a Tempe, Arizona, Starbucks and purchased beverages, Business Insider previously reported. A barista then reportedly asked the officers to either remove themselves from a customer's line of sight or leave the store because the customer "did not feel safe" with the officers' presence, and the officers chose to leave.
It spawned the hashtag "#DumpStarbucks" to trend on Twitter, after the Tempe Officers Association tweeted a logo seemingly designed in 2012 by the National Organization for Marriage to protest Starbuck's support of same-sex marriage.
Starbucks Executive Vice President Rossann Williams issued an apology to the police department, writing that the officers "should have been welcomed and treated with dignity and the utmost respect by our partners."
But another anti-police instance occurred at a Glenpool, Oklahoma, Starbucks in November when an employee was fired after labeling a police officer's cup with the word "PIG," a derogatory term used for police officers.
Amy Slanchik, a news reporter from the local Oklahoma news channel News On 6, first tweeted about the incident. The Kiefer Police Department officer was buying his team thank you coffees for working on Thanksgiving, she wrote.
Starbucks released an official apology to the officer in which they called the incident "absolutely unacceptable." Following the incident, Starbucks and the Kiefer Police Department released a statement saying they would work to "promote greater civility together."