You are sending a link to...
New Britain mayor says Target manager kicked police off premises during department's school supply drive
NEW BRITAIN, CT (WFSB) -- The New Britain mayor is calling out her city’s Target store.
On Tuesday, Mayor Erin Stewart took to Twitter saying a store manager told city police officers to leave the premises as they were trying to hold their annual back-to-school supply drive.
According to Stewart, the store manager told officers to leave because "he doesn’t support the police."
New Britain's Fire Chief Raul Ortiz even reacted to the incident on Twitter, saying "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."
Not long after she posted about the incident on Twitter, she followed up by saying Target’s regional manager made a personal $500 donation for supplies, and apologized for what had happened.
She also said Target is now letting the police department go back to the store this weekend to continue its collection drive. It'll be held on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A bin has also been placed inside the store.
Channel 3 has reached out to Target for a comment on Wednesday. While the company hasn't released an official statement, it says there's more to this story.
On Wednesday, New Britain spokesman Edward Ford said "the past 24 hours we've seen a tremendous amount of support from the community for the police department's back to school drive."
For those interested in donating, a bin has also been placed in the lobby of the police department downtown.
Donations can also be made by contacting Captain Matt Butkiewicz at 860-826-3090 or e-mailing him at Matthew.Butkiewicz@newbritainct.gov.
New Britain police posted about the school supply drive back on Aug. 8, saying they were looking to stuff a few of their cruisers with school supplies to help city children and families ahead of the new school year.
Donations may include the following:
- No. 2 Pencils
- Ballpoint pens
- Pencil pouch
- Erasers
- Sharpeners
- Ruler
- Protractor
- Scissors
- Personal calendar
- Pocket folders
- 3-ring binder
- 3-hole punch
- Index cards
- Subject dividers
- White-out
- Highlighters
- Markers
- Glue Sticks
- Graphing calculator
- Wide ruled loose-leaf paper
- Graph paper
- Drawing paper
- Watercolor paints
- Spiral notebooks
- Stapler
- Locker accessories
- Lunchbox
- Backpack
