Tempe Police Receive Apology, Offers Of Free Coffee After Starbucks Snub

"Time to close all 8000 stores for anti-police bias training" - NPOA

starbucks
Starbucks at Scottsdale Road and McKellips [Photo from Google Maps]

Starbucks has offered an apology to six Tempe Police officers, who were asked to leave the company’s Scottsdale and McKellips roads location on July 4 after a customer claimed that their presence made him feel “unsafe.”

On Sunday, Rob Ferraro, head of the Tempe Police Officers Association said in an interview on FOX News that Starbucks officials were coming to Arizona to meet with the Tempe Police chief. Ferraro said they don’t blame Starbucks for the snub and called it an “unfortunate incident.”


The public first learned of the barista’s bizarre request after the Association tweeted about the incident on July 5:

According to FOX News, Starbucks’ executive vice president wrote to the Department that she wanted to “sincerely apologize” on behalf of Starbucks after six officers were asked to leave the Tempe store.

“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,” she wrote according to FOX.

While there might be Starbucks’ customers who are uncomfortable with officers’ presence, the officers received invites from various supporters:

A newly formed group with a questionable pedigree, known as the National Police Officers Association, tweeted a demand for “anti-police bias training.”


The obviously snarky tweet refers to the April 2018 closure of 8000 Starbucks stores in the United States for one day to conduct anti-bias training after two black men were arrested after a white manager called the police. Starbucks reached an undisclosed settlement with those men and offered them a free college education.

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