CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland said it is processing 143 pending complaints of illegal dumping throughout the city and is asking residents to assist in identifying areas of illegal dumping.
The call for help from residents comes as City Council allocates $19,200 to assist the Environmental Crimes Task Force. The funds will be used to purchase training and equipment necessary to assist in combating illegal dumping.
According to Cleveland Police Lieutenant Wayne Drummond, the Environmental Crimes Task Force investigated 171 cases resulting in 159 sites being cleaned up in 2020. There were 15 felony and 24 misdemeanour indictments stemming from the task force’s investigations.
Some members of Cleveland City Council questioned whether the current three-member task force was enough to tackle all of the city’s illegal dumping issues.
“I feel maybe we need to beef the department up to have at least four people there to work on these issues,” Cleveland City Councilman Joseph Jones said. “The city of Cleveland overall has become a dumping ground.”
Councilwoman Delores Gray, who represents Ward 5, says she gets a number of messages from constituents about illegal dumping in her ward.
In addition to garnering cooperation from the community, Drummond said the city has deployed 15 moveable cameras to dumping hot spots in hopes of capturing the license plates of illegal dumpers.
The city of Cleveland is asking residents to:
- Be eyes and ears for the community: report high weeds and grass, graffiti, standing water, street and traffic light outages, and abandoned properties and vehicles
- Report illegal activity in and around abandoned buildings;
- Keep the neighborhood clean and healthy by properly disposing of waste, recycling, keeping up with yard work and making important repairs to the home and property
- Adhere to the waste set out rules
- Keep the property, including sidewalks, clean and free from debris
- Keep an eye out for illegal dumping. Call 216-664-DUMP, to report any dumping
- Move cars off the street when street cleaning signs are posted – otherwise, parking enforcement crews will ticket violators
The city said witnesses who report illegal dumping will be eligible for half of potential fines collected from offenders.
Illegal dumping caries up to a $25,000 fine within the state of Ohio.
