Guitar shop manager shocked after police officer posts bad Yelp review after being denied entry over COVID policy

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A Ravenswood neighborhood guitar shop’s manager said a Chicago Police officer wanted to do some in-store shopping – but the manager turned him away per the store’s COVID policy.

So imagine his surprise when the officer later criticized the store on a social media post – in uniform. CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov found Tuesday that post might be a big policy violation.

Rock N Roll Vintage Chicago Guitar Shop, 4727 N. Damen Ave., has been closed to in-store browsing for a year. Signs on the door make that quite clear.
“Because we have two to three guys working here, and we’re all unvaccinated,” said general manager Andrew Marrah.

So imagine Marrah’s surprise when on Monday afternoon, a Chicago Police officer in uniform walked in.

“He never rang the bell. He just shook the door. I was alarmed,” Marrah said. “I thought maybe, you know, there was something wrong – he’s a cop.”

Marrah said he told the officer he could not let him inside, and the officer walked away. It is what the officer did next that stunned Marrah.

“He went outside. He sat in his police cruiser in front of our store for about 45 minutes, and then that’s when I got the Yelp notification to our email saying that he had just reviewed our store,” Marrah said.

The Yelp notification featured a picture of the officer in uniform criticizing the store’s no-browsing policy. It upset Marrah – not the bad review, but the fact that it came from an officer pictured in his uniform.

And according to CPD policy, the post might be a problem. Policy states that officers are prohibited from any “intellectual property of the Department” – which includes logos and uniforms – but Marrah also snapped a picture of the officer’s parked police car and included it in his complaint to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

“If he showed up in his civilian clothing, I would have taken the Yelp review – no problem,” Marrah said. “But it’s just – the only word I can say is unacceptable.”

While a CPD spokesperson sent Kozlov the department’s social media policy, they said they could not comment directly on any registered COPA complaints.

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