Blue Customers Matter: Police Are Being Turned Away at Restaurants

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A city police officer in Alexandria, Va., was recently standing in line at a Noodles & Co., a growing fast food pasta chain with more than 400 locations. As the officer was waiting to place her order, the cook walked to the cashier and "said something along the lines of 'I'm not serving that one,'" Alexandria Police Department spokeswoman Crystal Nosal told Patch.

National social justice fights are routinely debated at political podiums and national talk shows, but they're fought on the ground — neighbor to neighbor. Decades ago, it was counters and water fountains marked "whites only." In recent years, it has been religious bakers refusing service to gay couples.

This summer, we're seeing shocking videos of police-involved deaths, as well as deadly attacks on law enforcement like we have never seen before. And the latest individuals turned away at local restaurants are those sworn to protect their communities.

In the case of the Noodles and Co., the officer walked out and reported the incident. Later, the two employees involved were fired. "Discrimination of any kind is never tolerated at Noodles & Co.," according to a company statement released to Patch. "We have the utmost respect for law enforcement officials and value the relationship we have built with the local Alexandria Police Department over the years.”

Last week, an employee at a McDonald's in Gainesville, Ga. — about an hour north of Atlanta — refused service to uniformed sheriff's deputies.

The McDonald’s restaurant owner fired the employee involved in that case and issued a similar statement stressing his support for local law enforcement.

And every police force in the country has shared stories of individuals, businesses and community groups showing their overwhelming support for police with gifts, food and sometimes simple hugs and "thanks."

Many restaurants routinely offer discounts to police officers. But, at a time when the relationship between law enforcement and community members has frayed, the opposite extreme has cropped up, too.

A look at just a few:

• Last month, a cashier at a Phenix City, Ala., Taco Bell was fired after telling uniformed sheriff's deputies that law enforcement officers would not be served.
• In October, a Dunkin Donuts employee in Connecticut rushed to apologize to a police officer after telling him that police weren't served there. The employee said it was meant as a joke.
• In September, an Arby's employee in Pembroke Pines, Florida, refused to serve a female officer. "I am offended and appalled that an individual within our community would treat a police officer in such a manner," police Chief Dan Giustino said in a media release.
• And, last August, a Bowling Green, Kentucky, officer in a police-issued knit shirt was denied entry to a Chuck E. Cheese because she was carrying her firearm.

Those aren't the only incidents that have happened over the past year or so, but they provide a glimpse at what has become an unfortunate trend.

In the wake of high-profile police shootings, starting perhaps with last year's shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Miss., groups have spoken out loudly against police violence, particularly in minority communities.

But the killing of five officers in Dallas has crystalized the fact that some are taking that message to an extreme not envisioned by organizers. An angry response to individual cases of police violence shouldn't extend to bigotry and violence against law enforcement.

Public reaction when officers are refused service tends to be largely sympathetic to law enforcement, reinforcing the notion that one restaurant employee isn't speaking for others in their community:

Craig Goodman, the police chief in Brenham, Texas, where a uniformed officer and his family were refused service by a McDonald's employee recently, called such incidents the exception, not the rule.

"We know this was an isolated incident that involved a single employee who is not fond of law enforcement," Goodman said in a written statement. "It is my hopes and prayers that this employee and anyone else who has a negative view of law enforcement address the real and/or perceived problem through positive communication with us."

In Alexandria, officers are putting the incident behind them and focusing on building new relationships, one restaurant counter at a time. Last week, the department shared a picture on social media of one afternoon snack in the patrol car: Noodles and Co.