Police department in Florida reports officer denied service at local Arby's just for being a cop; Update: Arby's apologizes

Doug P. | 11:01 AM on September 02, 2015

The Pembroke Pines Police Dept. in Florida has shared a report that says a uniformed officer was denied service at a local Arby’s just because he or she is a cop:

The media release regarding a #PPPD officer being denied service at a local Arby's can be found on our site; http://t.co/YwZX0hLSO3

— Pembroke Pines PD (@PPinesPD) September 2, 2015

The Pembroke Pines PD’s incident summary includes this:

The Pembroke Pines Police Department was made aware of an incident that occurred on the evening of 09/01/2015 where one of our uniformed officers was denied service at a local Arby’s due to being a police officer.

Public relations fail.

.@Arbys, what's your official position on a manager at your Pembroke Pines, FL store denying service to uniformed cop because she was a cop?

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) September 2, 2015

@PPinesPD That's unheard of, shame on them. The amount bigotry against all types of people expressed in this country lately is apalling.

— Nick Paul ??‍♂️ (@nickpaul2005) September 2, 2015

@PPinesPD people are just losing all sense of what is right and wrong…thank you for letting us know about this incident…

— EJM (@bosseone2) September 2, 2015

The PPPD chief wrote in the media release that he would be contacting the Arby’s CEO regarding the incident.

Less than two hours after that release went out, police said Giustino had contacted Arby’s by phone. “Immediately following, Arby’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Brown, and Senior Vice President of Operations Scott Boatwright, contacted Chief Giustino to convey their sincere apologizes on behalf of their organization,” police said.

“Both gentlemen assured Chief Giustino that the employee’s behavior was unacceptable and not representative of the company’s values. Chief Giustino was appreciative and accepted their apology and now considers this matter closed.”