Steve Fletcher is a city councilman in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He represents an area that's been pretty protected from the riots and protests in the wake of George Floyd's death.

It's near the university, filled with coffee shops and students. The mayor lives there.

But Steve knew something was changing in his ward when he started getting these phone calls

in the last couple of weeks.

They were from constituents who were worried, pleading for help, and unable to reach the authorities.

And there were several nights that I stayed up all night because people couldn't get through

to 911 even.

And they called you.

Sure.

About what?

There's, you know, two sketchy guys with a vehicle that doesn't have license plates driving up and down my street.

Who do I report it to? How do I get information out?

I mean, like, we had people in our city trying to harm us who were drawn by

the news and by the protests, and people were trying to report that. It was terrifying. I mean,

it was really scary, and I was passing information through to anybody I could get on the phone

at the mayor's office, at the governor's office, at the National Guard, like, wherever we could

sort of find ways to back channel information

if the 911 system was overwhelmed.

Steve got elected back in 2017 after a career in nonprofits and the arts.

And suddenly, his constituents weren't just asking him to craft some legislation or debate

the finer details of the city budget.

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