Some police officers in Tempe, Ariz., say that they were kicked out — asked to leave — a Starbucks coffee shop on the Fourth of July just because a customer had issues with their safety as the cops were present, according to reports.
Five officers were drinking coffee at the Starbucks location just before their shift beginning when a barista approached them and asked them to move out of the shop because customers did not ‘feel safe around them’, the Tempe Officers Association wrote in a series of Twitter messages.
Rob Ferraro, president of the police union, said that such treatment of police officers seems to be happening more often these days.
“It’s become accepted to not trust or to see police and think that we’re not here to serve you, and again, it goes back to — we take great pride of the level of customer service we provide to citizens, and to be looked at as feeling unsafe when you have law enforcement around you is somewhat perplexing to me,” Ferraro told the station in a phone interview.
The police union also shared a chain of Twitter messages about the incident.
“This treatment of public safety workers could not be more disheartening,” the union wrote. “While the barista was polite, making such a request at all was offensive. Unfortunately, such treatment has become all too common in 2019.”
The union said that it did not blame the Starbucks corporate office, adding it looked forward “to working collaboratively with them on this important dialogue.”
Earlier Friday, the union tweeted a parody of the Starbucks logo, with the words “Dump Starbucks” and the image of a hand dumping the contents of a cup of coffee.
“Don’t appreciate @Starbucks asking our #Tempe cops to leave your establishment on the #4thofjuly2019,” the message said. “Several of those cops are #veterans who fought for this country! #ZeroRespect”