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Street Soldiers

Oct 13
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Street Soldiers TV: On Patrol with the NYPD

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The NYPD has come a long way in the last couple of years, keeping crime down and working to improve community relations. The department is also on the cutting edge of new policing strategies.

Street Soldiers was granted exclusive access to the NYPD’s behind-the-scenes operations. I hit the streets and joined them on patrol.

COUNTERTERRORISM

The threat of a terror attack remains the No. 1 public safety issue for the city. Counterterrorism Chief James Waters told me they consider every possibility: homegrown extremists who self-radicalize, those who travel to a foreign country, and more.

Waters took us out with the Harbor Unit to see how technology is adding to their vigilance, especially for major security challenges such as the U.N. General Assembly, which brings more than 200 world leaders including the president to the city.

BODY CAMERAS

After the NYPD was given a mandate to retrain police officers and rebuild trust with the community, body cameras were introduced. The body-camera training also includes crisis intervention sessions and clear guidelines about when to record.

BRONX OVERDOSE SQUAD

With fatal drug overdoses taking the lives of one New Yorker every six hours, the NYPD created the Bronx overdose squad using a new first responder and investigative model. We were the first crew allowed on patrol with them.

COUNTER-SNIPER AND MOM

Det. Tina Guerrero of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Service Unit is a trailblazer taking aim at gender stereotypes. The 5-feet, 1-inch married mother of three is the department’s only female counter-sniper. She talked about balancing her job and her family life.

CRIME LAB

We got an exclusive look inside the largest DNA crime lab in North America. It is at the New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manhattan. In this dry, sterile facility with purified air pumped in, the scientists handle more than 14,000 cases a year—everything from muggings to murders to mass casualty tragedies.

—LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers

Oct 06
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Street Soldiers TV: Hip Hop Feuds: Are They Real or Just Publicity?

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It was a security 911 with all hands on deck during a Fashion Week flare-up as Cardi B’s designer shoe went flying straight at Nicki Minaj because Nicki dared to question Cardi’s mothering skills on social media.

The confrontation between the two rap queens drew worldwide attention, says international battle rap star, Jaz the Rapper.

“It’s exciting because you don’t have many female rappers in the industry anyway,” she says. “We’re so used to having all these males going back and forth but I feel like. Now it’s our time.”

A long simmering beef between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly erupted in august when Slim Shady took shots at Machine Gun Kelly in “Not Alike.”

MGK fired back with “Rap Devil” taking direct aim at Eminem. Eminem responded with “Killshot,” which made rap fans go ballistic.

Many hip hop fans blame the East Coast-West Coast beef of the 1990’s for the murders of Biggie and Tupac. Luckily, today most of the shots fired are verbal.

A bitter years long beef between Meek Mill and Drake exploded when Meek accused Drake of not writing his own lyrics. It ended with a very public ceasefire when Drake invited Meek to come on his concert stage. Hip hop fans loved it.

–LISA EVERS

FEATURED CAST: LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers https://twitter. com/lisaevers

JAZ THE RAPPER, Queen of Battle Rap https://twitter.com/JazTheRapper

ROB MARKMAN, Rapper and Head of Artist Relations, GENIUS https://twitter.com/RobMarkman

LUCKY CHURCH, Partner/Global Director of PR, SMF Global Consultants https://twitter.com/LuckyChurch

Sep 29
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Street Soldiers TV: Can Hip Hop Change the Political Game?

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Politics and serious issues have always had a place in hip hop since day one but now that hip hop is a billion-dollar industry with millions of fans, could the culture become a political force?

Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” became a rousing anthem in 1990 at a time when there was tremendous anger and frustration over injustices. Fast forward 28 years to Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.” The song captures the current troubling pressures on black lives, but the artist resists putting a label on it.

“I feel like it’s not really my place. I think it’s something that’s just out there,” he said in an interview. “It’s for the people.”

I sat down with XXL Magazine editor-in-chief Vanessa Satten for her take. She said “This Is America” did what it was supposed to do.

“It hit all the different points, it got the audience response,” she said. “Everything about it was right on the money.”

“Doitall” Dupré Kelly of the platinum-selling hip hop group Lords of the Underground performs around the world. He took political involvement to a new level. He ran for but did not win a City Council seat in his hometown of Newark. He told me fame isn’t enough.

“You can’t just expect to win an elected official seat,” he said. “You have to be in tune with the community. You have to be involved with all the residents of the community, from the youth to the seniors.”

Superstar Kanye West originally said he’d run for president in 2020, setting off a merchandising gold rush. Now he is setting his sights on 2024. Satten said the current political dissatisfaction may actually make hip hop votes a reality.

“I think there’s a possibility the hip hop community may come out and support voting more,” Satten said. “It comes a lot with the rappers, sometimes it comes from the more popular rappers, so you’ve got to hope that a popular rapper wants to take that as their plate.”

Fame and money may get you just about everything but actually winning political races takes a different skill set. Still, recent history has shown just about anything is possible.

—LISA EVERS

FEATURED CAST: LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers https://twitter. com/lisaevers

VANESSA SATTEN, Editor-in-Chief, XXL Magazine https://twitter com/VSattenXXL https://twitter.com/XXL

L. LONDELL MCMILLAN, Entertainment Attorney and Publisher, Source Magazine https://twitter.com/LondellMcMillan https://twitter.com/TheSource

DUPRÉ “DOITALL” KELLY, Hip Hop Artist and Entrepreneur https://twitter.com/doitallfornwk

BASIL SMIKLE, Political Strategist and Professor https://twitter.com/BasilSmikleJr

DONALD GLOVER, AKA “CHILDISH GAMBINO” http://www.childishgambino.com

Sep 22
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Street Soldiers TV: “Overcoming Addiction”

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Getting off drugs isn’t easy and many people fail. So with the drug epidemic touching every community, how do you overcome addiction before it is too late?

Mac Miller’s comments in a 2016 Fader documentary take on tragic meaning after his death of an apparent drug overdose on September 7, 2018. He was 26, had a new album, and was about to go on a world tour. Watching French Montana warning him about a potent mixture of Lean (soda mixed with codeine cough syrup and other substances) is painful.

“When you’re taking something like Lean, it is such a gateway to that euphoric opiate type of a high,” Dr. Domenick Sportelli, a psychiatrist, said.

Miller lost his battle with substance abuse. And unfortunately he is not alone. A recent New York City Health Department survey found that overdose deaths rose in 2017—taking the life of one New Yorker every six hours.

Dr. Arabia Mollette said she sees it in her emergency room.

“People of all races, ethnicities, religious groups, and ages—from school-age children to someone’s grandmother,” she said.

Drugs like heroin, cocaine, pills and K-2 increasingly are laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is the main factor in the rising death toll.

We saw an FDNY paramedic and NYPD officers trying to deal with a man who had apparently overdosed in the middle of a street in the South Bronx.

“I’m just flabbergasted at how each day, every hour on the hour, of people that come into the emergency department overdosing on opiates or molly or K-2,” Dr. Mollette said.

She said she believes that none of the treatment options work unless the substance abuser takes personal responsibility.

That can be an enormous challenge when the addiction is both physical and psychological, according to Dr. Sportelli.

“They have mental stressors that they can escape from within a couple of hours—and it all goes away,” Dr. Sportelli said. “The problem is when the drug wears off, all of those problems come back, and it’s 10 times worse if not more—plus the physical symptoms of your body craving it.”

—LISA EVERS

#MacMiller #DrugOverdose #DrugAddiction #Opioids #Fentanyl #Heroin #Spice #K2 #DrugTreatment #streetsoldiers #push4peace

FEATURED CAST:
LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers
https://twitter. com/lisaevers

TERRELL JONES, Co-Chair, Peer Network of New York and Partner, Drug Policy Alliance
https://twitter.com/terrellpnny
https://www.drugpolicy.org

DR. ARABIA MOLLETTE, Emergency Medicine Physician
https://twitter.com/dramollette
https://linktr.ee/drarabiamollette

TONY SUNSHINE, Artist and 3 Years Sober
https://twitter.com/tonysunshinebx

DR. DOMENICK SPORTELLI, Psychiatrist
https://www.instagram.com/drsportelli/

FURTHER VIEWING AND READING:

WATCH: “MAC MILLER – STOPPED MAKING EXCUSES” (THE FADER DOCUMENTARY)

SAMHSA NATIONAL HELPLINE 800-662-4357
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/nati…

NYC DRUG & ALCOHOL USE SERVICES
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/…

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: PRESCRIPTION OPOIOIDS
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publication…

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: HEROIN
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse…

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: FENTANYL
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse…

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS (K2/SPICE)
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse…

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: MDMA (ECSTASY/MOLLY)
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse…

Sep 16
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Street Soldiers TV: Time to Step Up School Security?

By | Fox 5, Street Soldiers | No Comments

Realizing their full potential is difficult for some of the city’s more than 1 million students when fears of violence are on their minds. Every year, school safety agents confiscate hundreds of deadly weapons, including guns and knives.

And that is at schools that have metal detectors, which are less than 10 percent of the total, according to school safety union head Gregory Floyd.

“What worries me the most is we do not know what the children are bringing in to the schools. We don’t know which children are being bullied, which children are bringing in weapons, we have no clue,” Floyd said. “And this always leads to disastrous consequences.”

The stabbing death of a student in a Bronx high school last year highlighted the problem. It was the first murder in a school in 15 years. The school does not have metal detectors, despite the requests of staff and parents.

Parent and educator Shakima Davis said that installing modern video surveillance and metal detectors in all schools should be mandatory.

“Sometimes people snap so you never really know where that person’s mindset is at,” She said. “So I just feel it’s always good to take those precautions so no matter what, it can alleviate any problems or any incidents happening.”

A Department of Education spokesperson told Street Soldiers: “The DOE is committed to fostering safe and supportive learning environments, and we work in lockstep with NYPD to ensure every school building is secure we take every necessary step to ensure the safety and preparedness of our school communities.”

In order to get an idea of what is going on system-wide, City Council Member Paul Vallone is pushing for a task force.

–LISA EVERS

FEATURED CAST: LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers https://twitter.com/lisaevers

STATE SEN. JESSE HAMILTON, D-Brooklyn, Ranking Member, Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business Committee https://twitter.com/SenatorHamilton

SHAKIMA DAVIS, Parent and Educator

GREGORY FLOYD, President, Teamsters Local237 https://twitter.com/teamsters237

CITY COUNCILMEMBER PAUL VALLONE, D-Queens, Chair, Economic Development Committee https://twitter.com/PaulVallone

Sep 02
2
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Street Soldiers TV: DANGEROUS NEW STREET DRUGS

By | Fox 5, Street Soldiers | No Comments

Dangerous drugs are flooding our streets and the overdose rate is steadily climbing, taking more and more lives every year—in greater numbers than murders and car accidents combined.

Drugs have always been a part of our culture but the problem is the worst that it has ever been, according to Special Agent in Charge James Hunt of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“As far as the influx of heroin, we’re seeing 10 times more than we had 10 years ago,” Hunt said. “Fentanyl is probably 10 times more than it was two years ago.”

Hunt said that fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, is coming mainly from China and the dark web.

“Fentanyl is a game changer,” he said. “As bad as heroin and cocaine are alone, mixed with fentanyl, you’re playing with your life.”

The near-death overdose of superstar Demi Lovato was reportedly from pills laced with fentanyl. The man who gave them to her told TMZ he didn’t know what was in them.

Fentanyl acts quickly, according to Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency room physician.

“You basically lose the urge to breathe, carbon dioxide builds up in your bloodstream, and you can die from lack of oxygen,” he said.

Hunt said that fentanyl has found its way into K2, which is marketed with brand names and colorful packaging to appeal to teens and has caused many overdoses. K2 is often called synthetic marijuana but Hunt said that is false advertising and a marketing gimmick.

“It’s a chemical compound that’s very dangerous,” Hunt said. “You may get some of the initial effects but it can make you very, very ill. And it can kill you.”

Over the last several years, the DEA has identified over 400 different chemical compounds called K2 that can be especially harmful to teens.

“It can actually rewire their brain and it can lead to ongoing mental health issues, including psychosis,” Glatter said. “And even increase the risk of long-term mental illness.”

Overdoses have happened in restaurants, schools, stores, and other public places.

New York State has a 911 good Samaritan law that protects you from arrest if you call for help for yourself or another person.

–LISA EVERS

FEATURED CAST:

LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers
https://twitter. com/lisaevers

DR. ROBERT GLATTER, ER Physician, Lenox Hill Hospital
https://twitter.com/DrRobertGlatter
http://dr911md.com/bio.php

MELISSA MOORE, Deputy State Director, New York, Drug Policy Alliance
https://twitter.com/DrugPolicyOrg
http://www.drugpolicy.org/melissa-moore

LT. HENRY MARRERO, Retired, North Bergen Police Department
https://www.facebook.com/HCA.MARRERO/