A California Coffee Shop Wouldn’t Serve Cops. Cops Used It as a ‘Teaching Moment’ About Equality and Respect.

When an Oakland, California coffee “collective” announced that it would no longer serve cops, because a law enforcement presence in the cafe “compromises our feeling of physical & emotional safety,” Oakland police decided to use it as a way of teaching equality and respect to their neighbors.

Last month, the Hasta Muerte coffee collective made their feelings about uniformed police known when they refused to serve Oakland Sgt. Robert Trevino. The “poc collectively run, worker-owned coffee shop” claims, on their website, that they have a “warm and inclusive atmosphere” for all people in their local community, but doubled down on their anti-police policy this week, posting a photo of an X’ed out police badge on Instagram with the words, “Talk with your neighbors, not the police.”

But Trevino and his fellow officers say they are part of that neighborhood, and Trevino’s supervisor claims Trevino wasn’t even looking to buy coffee, but to extend his community policing efforts, trying to establish a relationship with Hasta Muerte (which opened only recently), and build trust . . .

To that end, the local PD is using the service denial as a “teaching moment” and a way of instructing new recruits on how to set an example for the surrounding community by practicing actual tolerance, and exhibiting respect for their neighbors . . .

The Oakland police academy says it will use Hasta Muerte as an example in its racial diversity training program to demonstrate that “it doesn’t matter how people feel about the police, you have to treat everyone equally.” (Read more from “A California Coffee Shop Wouldn’t Serve Cops. Cops Used It as a ‘Teaching Moment’ About Equality and Respect.” HERE)

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