Roll of Honor

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Captain

Jerome C. Poelking

Cleveland Division of Police — Cleveland, OH

Veteran → Illness

End of Watch December 8, 1975

Age 56

Tour of Duty 30 yrs

The Vigil Panel 116 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Military Department 118

Incident

Captain Jerome Poelking died after contracting an illness as a result of being spat upon.

He and other officers had responded to a robbery call at 11802 Kinsman Road and, when they arrived, discovered the suspects holding 15 hostages in the basement. As Captain Poelking negotiated with the suspects, one of them spat on his face.

When Captain Poelking awoke the following day, he had a temperature of 104º and had difficulty breathing. He was taken to a local hospital and died three days later from meningococcal meningitis, an inflammation of his brain and spinal cord.

Captain Poelking had served with the Cleveland Police Department for 30 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and four children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-OH-91DB2911
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Also honored at salute.nw — U.S. Navy. One record, 2 gates. Jerome is one person.

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Tributes

30 years. You could have gone home.
Captain Poelking gave the Cleveland Division of Police 30 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Cleveland community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Captain Poelking.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Cleveland Division of Police

Type Other

Location Cleveland, OH

Platform Identity cdpd.cuyahoga.oh.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch December 8, 1975

Tour of Duty 30 yrs

Age 56

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness

Cause Detail Duty related illness

Military Service

Jerome C. Poelking served in the U.S. Navy (1944â1946) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

Captain Jerome C. Poelking is one of 1 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,772 officers honored here.

In OH, 49 of 991 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 4.9% of this state's fallen. That is 4.9 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.

At Cleveland Division of Police, 9 of 119 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 7.6% of this agency's fallen.

Cleveland Division of Police

of 119 officers

7.6% Illness

OH — Statewide

of 991 officers

4.9% Illness

Nationwide

of 97,772 officers

0% Illness