CLEVELAND — Four Cleveland police officers have been terminated following an internal investigation into claims the officers were drinking on the job.
The four officers from the department’s Fourth District were placed on restrictive duty in October 2019 after it was discovered that they were consuming alcohol within an establishment while on duty and in uniform.
The four officers involved in the incident were:
- John Jarrell, age 42, hired October 1, 2012
- Anthony Miranda, age 34, hired November 25, 2013
- Kevin Kiesner, age 28, hired February 5, 2018
- Matthew Dates, age 27, hired November 26, 2018
Cleveland police union president Jeff Follmer says the officers will appeal their firings.
According to their termination letters, provided by the city of Cleveland, the four officers were drinking at 49th Street Tavern on Sept. 27, 2019. The officers reported they were at a different location while they were drinking at the bar.
In the termination letters issued to Jarrell, Miranda and Kiesner, police said the officers went to drink at the Cuyahoga Heights bar, leaving the city limits “without necessity and without receiving permission from a supervisor.”
Kiesner, Jarrell and Dates all left the bar after consuming alcohol to answer a call for service and then returned to the bar to continue drinking while on duty, according to their termination letters.
The decision to terminate the officers came following a review by the Chief of Police Calvin Williams and Michael McGrath, Director of the Department of Public Safety.
The termination letters stated that the officers’ actions “diminished the esteem of the Division, as well as violated the public’s trust when you were seen drinking on-duty, while in uniform and accepting gratuitous drinks in full view of the public to whom you have an obligation to protect and serve.”
