Yakima police officers Chad Urwin and Ryan Urlacher had quite the time when they visited Spokane for a firearms-training program this past June. When they weren’t in training, the officers took their city-issued credit cards and sampled a handful of the city’s culinary establishments, washing it down with about $400 worth of beer.Now, about that $400 worth of beer. . . As Yakima taxpayers would likely be happy to hear, the city budget does not cover off-duty officers’ drinking habits, and Urwin and Urlacher have now found themselves suspended for charging their suds to the city dime.City of Yakima spokesman Randy Beehler explains:”The officers told [the city manager] that they were confused about the credit-card policy,” Beehler says. “The city has a $61 per day, per-diem policy. Part of this is they were under the impression that they could use that money on anything. They can’t. We only pay the costs they actually incur–to the exclusion of alcohol.”Apparently one of the officers used to be a Washington State Patrol Trooper, and he explained that in the WSP, the officers’ per diem is more of a no-questions-asked per diem.When the city pointed out that the written per-diem policy specifically does not cover booze, the officers admitted that they screwed up.Now, besides being suspended for a week with no pay and having to pay back the cost of the beer, the two officers have also been barred from being firearms-training instructors (which they were), and have been told that if they violate any other policy from now on they’ll be fired immediately.”It’s a serious thing,” Beehler says. “You’re talking about public funds. You need to comply with our policy.”Follow The Daily Weekly on Facebook and Twitter.