Starbucks apologized Saturday after an employee reportedly asked six officers to leave one of the company's stores in a Phoenix suburb because a customer reported feeling unsafe.

In a letter addressed to the Tempe Police Department, the executive vice president of Starbucks apologized on behalf of the company for the experience the six officers had during the July 4 encounter.

"When those officers entered the store and a customer raised a concern over their presence, they should have been welcomed and treated with dignity and the utmost respect by our partners (employees)," Rossann Williams said. "Instead, they were made to feel unwelcome and disrespected, which is completely unacceptable."