After a year that included the deaths of two bystanders during chases, questions about the credibility of one of its members, and reports that it disproportionately ticketed Black drivers, Cuyahoga County’s Downtown Safety Patrol unit has a new name and a new focus.
As Cuyahoga County this week weighs what funding to include in its upcoming budget, the controversial unit has once again been put under the microscope ahead of big changes.
The unit is now named the vaguely titled Community Support Unit, which seems to better reflect the patrol’s new jurisdiction orders—all of Cuyahoga County, not just the city center of Downtown Cleveland.
Sheriff Harold Pretel told County Council in a presentation on Monday that he wants a budget—one a tad over $200 million for 2026—that would allow him to assign a dozen deputies and two sergeants to the Community Support Unit, not just the 10 deputies and one sergeant it currently has.
At Tuesday’s meeting of County Council’s Public Safety Committee, Pretel seemed focused and assured as he urged councilmembers present to fully fund what he sought. He touted the unit’s 103 felony arrests and 291 illegal guns taken off the streets since April as cogent reasons to give the green light.
The new unit “more adequately reflects” what the Community Support Unit is being funded to do, Pretel told Scene in an interview after the meeting Tuesday. “Its jurisdiction is Cuyahoga County,” he said. “That’s where they’ll be patrolling, as needed.”
Started in 2023 after 26-year-old Jaylon Jennings shot nine bystanders in Cleveland’s Warehouse District that July, the then-named Downtown Safety Patrol deployed that fall with a dozen deputies.
But the group has made headlines for all the wrong reasons too.
In March, Tamya Westmoreland was hit and killed by 24-year-old Nigel Wayne Perry while he was being chased on I-90 by two of the unit’s officers after they ran Perry’s expired plates. (Perry died as well in the crash.) And in August, 37-year-old Sharday Elder was hit and killed during a similar chase. Kasey Loudermilk, the officer who was chasing the suspected drunk driver, was put on leave and told to review chase policy.
“As we’ve always said, our policy was certainly one of the best in the state,” Pretel told News 5 in a recent interview.
On Tuesday, Pretel confirmed to Scene that Loudermilk was still on administrative leave. Vajusi is back on the force. “It’s an HR issue,” he said, “and it will be properly addressed.”
As of last month, the CSU deployed with a new chase policy, one that forbids CSU deputies from speeding after suspects unless there’s a possible felony-level violation at play.
District 11 Councilwoman Sunny Simon, who began worrying about the unit’s jurisdiction and funding back in October 2024 (and even called for its disbandment), reminded Pretel during budget discussions that Downtown Cleveland, in her mind, should be policed first of all by its own police.
“It’s certainly not our primary job to make sure those streets our safe,” she told Pretel.
In an interview after the meeting, Simon seemed placated by the unit’s rebrand and its new chase policy.
“Yes, I’m satisfied. But I’m still going to be watching to see if they’re really [worth] county money,” Simon told Scene. “And are we really doing a countywide effort, or is it still going to be dedicated to Downtown?”
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