“They were ignored for a long period of time,” the sheriff said. “They tried to get served. They asked if anyone was going to help them. They were laughed at. They were completely ignored.”
The sheriff said his deputies were denied service simply because they were in uniform.
“The anti police culture repeatedly displayed by Starbucks employees must end,” the sheriff said on a Facebook video.
Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges told CNN they have apologized for the incident.
“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.
Sorry, Starbucks — but that’s not good enough. This coffee chain has a history of targeting police officers and it’s not going to stop.
Riverside County Sheriff Deputies Ignored at Riverside Starbucks:Two Riverside County Sheriff Deputies visited a Starbucks location on University Ave in the City of Riverside to get a coffee when they stood there for an unreasonable amount of time to be served according to Starbucks Corporate, who obtained video surveillance footage of the store and reached out to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and local media outlets due to the social media negative attention.KSEQ was able to provide a statement from Starbucks that stated:“There is simply no excuse for how two Riverside deputies were ignored for nearly 5 minutes at our store on Thursday evening. 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. No customer, in or out of uniform, should ever have that experience at a Starbucks. “I was able to meet up tonight with Riverside County Sheriff, Chad Bianco, his lovely, amazing and supporting wife, Denise and the two Deputies at the focal point of this incident.All is good though, no one's feelings are seriously hurt enough about this incident that they will stop responding to a calls to assist the public, respond to calls to serve and protect the community in the utmost professional manner, etc… Although, change needs to be made at the top and make a statement that this type of behavior should not be tolerated…
Posted by Steve Johnson on Saturday, December 14, 2019