Cleveland has fired two detectives from its Domestic Violence Unit after an internal investigation found they signed off on duty reports and overtime cards that were knowingly false, allegedly leaving shifts early while still collecting pay for hours they never worked. Detective Eric Poole and Detective Taylor Cunningham are each accused of pocketing more than $1,000 in overtime pay tied to time they did not actually put in on the job.
According to FOX 8's I-Team, the pair were suspected of leaving before completing their overtime shifts while still getting paid for the full block of time. The internal investigation actually began back in 2024, but the city did not terminate the officers until this year, the station reported. Despite the firings, a city prosecutor determined that criminal charges should not move forward, concluding that prosecutors would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime had occurred.
That decision hasn't settled the matter. The police union has filed a grievance on behalf of the two detectives and is pushing the case toward arbitration, following the standard process where a grievance moves through steps with the city before the union demands arbitration, per the same report. Whether that arbitration will reverse, uphold, or otherwise alter the terminations remains unresolved.
Fallout Inside the Domestic Violence Unit
Beyond the personnel action, the investigation prompted the department to change some procedures around officer work schedules within the Domestic Violence Unit, the I-Team's reporting notes. The specifics of those scheduling changes were not detailed, but the shift suggests city officials wanted tighter oversight of how overtime hours are logged and verified going forward.
The case lands amid heavier scrutiny of Cleveland police overtime spending overall. Cleveland.com has reported that the department's overtime bill hit roughly $27 million in 2025, according to Cleveland.com, while a separate Cleveland.com analysis put the figure closer to $27.7 million, up from $26.4 million in 2023 — two counts that differ slightly depending on how the totals were calculated. That same analysis found the department logged 449,428 overtime hours in 2025, still about 13% fewer than in 2023, even as the overtime rate climbed from $53.35 an hour in 2023 to $64.65 in 2025.
A Department Stretched Thin
Forty-four Cleveland police employees at least doubled their salaries through overtime in 2025, and 155 earned more than $50,000 in extra pay, according to Cleveland.com's reporting. The division was authorized for 1,350 officers but employed only 1,240 at the time of budget-hearing coverage earlier this year, and the city has since budgeted $22 million in overtime for uniformed personnel in 2026.
Cleveland police officials have told city council that the ballooning overtime budget is justified and largely out of their control given understaffing in certain areas, according to Ideastream Public Media. That staffing crunch traces back to the pandemic years, when the Cleveland Division of Police lost at least 25% of its force to retirements and resignations, per News 5 Cleveland. That same investigation found individual officers earning eye-popping sums through overtime alone — Patrol Officer Karl Lloyd's total 2022 compensation reached $216,904.63, more than Mayor Justin Bibb's $155,552.35 salary that year, while Patrol Officer Curtis Brothers earned $111,724.92 in overtime alone.
This isn't the first Cleveland-area law enforcement overtime case to draw scrutiny. FOX 8's I-Team previously reported that two former Tri-C Police lieutenants were accused of stealing overtime pay, with prosecutors saying the men collected about $15,000 they did not actually earn. In that case, Ronald Wynne faced a grand theft charge after the same charge had earlier been filed against Alliston Moreland, who pleaded guilty.
For now, the fates of Poole and Cunningham hinge on the grievance process and any eventual arbitration. Neither the timeline for that arbitration nor its likely outcome has been made public, leaving open whether the firings will stand or the detectives could ultimately return to the force.
