Cleveland's 2025 summer safety plan looks to build on past success
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The City of Cleveland is again prioritizing summer safety as we head into Memorial Day weekend.
Why it matters: The emphasis on safety is welcomed following a crime-ridden summer in 2023 that included a high-profile mass shooting in the Warehouse District.
- Last year's inaugural Summer Safety Plan resulted in a 13% reduction in overall crime and a 37% drop in murders, compared to summer 2023.
State of play: Mayor Justin Bibb unveiled this year's plan Tuesday alongside police chief Dorothy Todd.
- The program builds on last year's success and includes combined efforts across city agencies to crack down on housing and building code violations, create engagement programs for seniors and youth, increase street speed table installation and more.
The big picture: The city will also continue its Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone initiative (RISE), which includes partnering with other law enforcement groups to patrol downtown and conduct warrant sweeps.
- RISE also helped the Division of Police add 134 recruits in 2024, its most since 2019.
- Earlier this week, the Cleveland City Council approved a new contract providing officers a 3% pay raise each year for the next three years.
Zoom in: All aspects of the safety plan prioritize neighborhoods with higher crime rates, with more police and regular neighborhood walks to engage residents.
- "There's a small portion of our city that's responsible for a majority of violent crime," Cleveland.com quoted Bibb as saying. "And so, we've identified those hot spots, and we're going to be doing neighborhood walks and have targeted law enforcement in those hot spots."
ICYMI: Bibb warns of "choppy headwinds" in State of the City