'Safety Ambassadors' Patrol DTSM

By Jack Simon

Downtown Santa Monica (DTSM) has announced it is expanding its Ambassador Program to include safety-related services in addition to the hospitality, custodial and homeless outreach efforts.

Beginning April 1, specially-trained "Safety Ambassadors" will be on patrol throughout Downtown Santa Monica on bike, Segway, foot and vehicle addressing quality-of-life offenses, acting as a deterrent to unwanted behavior and activity, responding to incidents called in by businesses and patrons, in addition to providing information, assistance and directions to downtown workers, residents and visitors, DTSM said in a press release.

The Safety Ambassadors will respond to quality-of-life offenses and will relay urgent public safety information to DTSM Command Center Dispatchers who will triage and place emergency or non-emergency calls to the Santa Monica Police and Fire departments as appropriate. In the event of an active emergency, Safety Ambassadors will remain on site until emergency responders arrive.

"The health and well-being of our community continues to be of paramount importance. It is Downtown Santa Monica's highest priority to provide a clean, safe and welcoming public environment for our residents, businesses and visitors," said DTSM CEO Kathleen Rawson. "Based on feedback from our community, we are expanding our Ambassador deployment to further focus on and enhance public safety in the district."

All Safety Ambassadors will be identifiable by unique uniforms and possess a valid "Guard Card" issued by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Service - a certification which requires a minimum of 40 hours of state-mandated training and 16 hours per year of continual professional training. Safety Ambassadors will be first aid and CPR certified within the first 30 days of their employment, DTSM said.

With the addition of Safety Ambassadors, DTSM will expand its Downtown Safety Escort Service. Employees and patrons can call or text the DTSM Ambassador Dispatch Center at 310.877.7731 to request an escort to their vehicle or other desired destination within the downtown.