Clean + Safe

Downtown Ambassadors are a visible, unarmed, and uniformed presence working seven days a week, year-round to create a clean, safe, and welcoming environment for all. We lead the collaboration with the City of Cleveland, law enforcement, and social service agencies to enhance beautification, public space maintenance, and safety.

We deploy ambassadors for over 110,000 hours annually to ensure the pedestrian experience in the city’s core is clean, safe, and welcoming for everyone.

What We Do

Our Clean and Safe Team is constantly improving the Downtown area by disposing of litter, sanitizing public touch points, removing graffiti, providing safety escorts, offering motor vehicle assistance, increasing uniformed visibility, and ensuring the welfare of the unsheltered population.

Call Us When You Need:

Directions or Recommendations on Anything Downtown

Safety Escorts to Your Destination

Assistance With Flat Tires, Car Lockouts, and Jumpstarts

To Report Instances of Trash and Graffiti

Mental Wellness Response / Services

To Report Suspicious Activity

CALL 216-621-6000

7AM-Midnight, 7 Days a Week

TO REPORT AN ISSUE OR ACCESS AMBASSADOR SERVICES INCLUDING SAFETY ESCORTS OR CAR LOCKOUT ASSISTANCE

Clean Ambassadors are responsible for public space beautification including, trash disposal, power washing, graffiti removal, and more.

Clean

Our body of safety services promotes a welcoming environment for all who work, live, and play in Downtown Cleveland.

Safe

Our outreach work is based on communication, collaboration, and creativity to fill gaps within and support the local social service structure.

Outreach

RAD Smart Security System

The RAD smart camera program is a safety security system managed and monitored by Downtown Cleveland that intervenes before negative, unwanted behavior.

We have expanded the program through the Downtown Cleveland Improvement District, including Playhouse Square, North Coast Harbor, and Public Square, for a total of 32 cameras.

The Robotic Assistance Devices (RAD) cameras are linked to Cleveland’s Real-Time Crime Center and monitored by our Downtown Ambassadors from 7 a.m. to midnight.

If you are interested in joining the network of RAD security cameras, please contact our team here.

Recent Projects

  • What you need to know: In November 2024, Downtown Cleveland launched a targeted initiative in response to a range of incidents at hospitality venues from quality-of-life offenses to serious violent crimes involving repeat offenders.

    What this looks like: Scheduled outreach including visits at high-activity hotels and phone call check-ins. Ambassador team and dispatchers have built trusting relationships with hotel employees and know them on a first name basis.

    • November 2024 to YTD Ambassadors have conducted over 8,700 hotel check-ins

    • Business Check-ins are also part of the Clean and Safe program, with over 7,600 check-ins YTD

  • What you need to know: Downtown Cleveland's Court Watch program advocates on behalf of business owners and residents victimized by chronic offenders, ensuring that these offenses are treated with the same seriousness as higher-level felonies.

    • Monitoring over 130 chronic offender cases through Court Watch

    • We worked with CPD to designate a dedicated detective for repeat offenders.

  • What you need to know: This year, we are building on this work by improving our system for monitoring, reporting, and resolving infrastructure deficiencies. Outages are reported to Cleveland Public Power.

    Street Light Outages

    • Audited all 1300 downtown streetlights

    • Found 353 out

    • 54% repaired