Minneapolis Council Member Hosts Overnight Safety Walk Downtown
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minneapolis City Council member walked around downtown with his constituents overnight after they asked him about safety in the area.
Steve Fletcher represents the city's third ward, which includes part of downtown Minneapolis.
Fletcher says he's been getting a lot of questions and concerns about downtown safety recently. He said the best way to learn more is by walking around the area to see what's going on.
So that's what he did last night.
He invited people he represents to walk around from midnight Sunday until about 2 a.m.
That's around bar close when fights and crime sometimes happened, especially on weekends.
"You know I don't know that I saw anything surprising, but I think we are kind of achieving the goal, which is that more of my constituents are out seeing this for themselves, seeing this firsthand. And seeing both what looks fun about it and what we might want to improve in terms of public safety. And some business owners got a chance to share with me some specific concerns that they had, which was also important," Fletcher said.
There have been several shootings downtown this summer.
Late last month, a Minneapolis Police Department official said it's not uncommon to see an uptick in crime during the summer, adding the city is coming off a 30-year low of violent crime.