Beavercreek officers are standing at crosswalks and blind spots in the parking lot directing traffic as vehicles idle and travel incrementally through the busy drive-through.
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The cost to pay for the police presence is being covered by Raising Cane’s.
The department is under contract with the popular chain restaurant to provide the “special duty detail,” according to Capt. Chad Lindsey.
“Special Duty is at the request of the business who signs a contract agreeing to pay the city for the overtime and benefits of the officers working,” Lindsey said. “Special duty details do not have an impact on shift manpower and do not impact responses to other calls.”
Beavercreek police notified the public of the activity in a Nov. 5 posting on the department's Facebook page.
“No city tax dollars fund these special duty assignments,” the post reads. “The police department works various special duty details throughout the year, which includes school events, Black Friday shopping days, road projects where contractors request traffic control, and various other special duty details. All business/vendors are billed by the city for all overtime, benefits and vehicles used for Special Duty assignments.”
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Raising Cane’s often works with local police departments for crowd control and to address safety concerns when a new restaurant is opened, said Michael Williams, Raising Cane’s marketing specialist.
“When we go into an area where there are only a couple of locations, that’s where we see the biggest rush,” Williams said.
Raising Cane’s first restaurant in the Dayton area opened in Washington Twp. about 18 months ago.
Around 1:30 p.m. Monday, the lunch crowd was still motoring through the drive-through line and nearly every table was occupied in the dine-in area.
An officer on scene said they measured how long it took one vehicle to get through the line. He said it took approximately 17 minutes.
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Others have reported waiting an hour or more for the chicken fingers.
Williams said recently a new restaurant opened in northeast Ohio, where the nearest other location is more than two hours away. He said people were willing to waiting up to two hours to get their food.
“We know what to expect when we open and we try to plan accordingly,” he said. “From purely a safety concern, our customers come first. We want to make sure people are safe going through the drive-through.”
Raising Cane’s was looking to open a third area location at the corner of Stroop Road and Far Hills Avenue in Kettering. However, several neighbors voiced their objections at a recent zoning meeting on the proposal, stating the new restaurant would lead to traffic problems, litter issues and unwanted congestion in the neighborhood, prompting the local franchisee to withdraw its request.
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