A Connecticut Mayor, Erin Stewart, is calling out her city’s Target store. She recently said her police officers were in the middle of an annual back-to-school supply drive when a Target manager turned them away and was asking them to leave because he “doesn’t support the police.”
Stewart tweeted about it asking if anyone wants to make a donation. Many responded angrily to the situation, including New Britain’s Fire Chief Raul Ortiz. “I’ll donate. That is unbelievable. Isn’t community policing and involvement what we want more of? Our NBPD has been exceptional in that aspect,” he tweeted.
Timothy Conaway started the back-to-school supply fundraiser nearly seven years ago and when he showed up Saturday morning with two officers they were asked to leave.
“I told him I was here last year, and he didn’t agree or believe me, and he told us to leave. Officers were looking like, ‘You really want us to leave?’ And he said yes,” Conaway said.
Other police officers said they wanted to stuff a few of their cruisers with school supplies to help city children and families before the new school year starts.
Not long after posting, the Mayor followed up saying that Target’s regional manager made a personal $500 donation for supplies and apologized for what happened. Target is now letting the police department go back to the store this weekend to continue its collection drive. A bin was also placed inside the store.
Target released an official statement on Twitter about the incident. “We have a long history of supporting the New Britain community, and we’re sorry for the misunderstanding. We’ve talked with police, and they’re returning to our store this weekend for their back-to-school drive. In addition, Target’s donating school supplies to support the efforts,” they tweeted.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time business employees have refused to service police. Just the other week, a Dunkin’ Donuts employee was arrested for spitting in a cop’s coffee after the officer found a ‘thick piece of mucus’ in his drink. Two uniformed Las Vegas police officers were also denied a meal by a restaurant’s bartender at The Lodge and told “we don’t serve you guys here anymore.”
The severity of anti-cop behavior has seemed to spike since George Floyd’s death in late May. The radical left are to blame for promoting “all cops are racist pigs” and looking to defund the police by pouring the department’s funds into community programs and social services.
Many cities, such as Chicago, have been voting on abolishing police forces entirely and turning to “violence interrupters,” individuals who volunteer to settle disputes. The programs have all but failed as more and more volunteers witness gun violence daily and have not had the adequate training or resources (that police officers have) to settle confrontation.
It’s unfortunate that Target only did the right thing when they made the news, especially with this kind of behavior towards local law enforcement. The Dem’s movement against police has gone too far for our honorable men and women in blue. Enough is enough.
