Kori Chambers: Well, the mayor is calling on New Yorkers to speak up if they suspect fentanyl drug dealers in their neighborhoods.
Shirley Chan: Yes, some people in the Bronx say they're still shaken up after a series of busts and the unfortunate death of a one‑year‑old boy who died at daycare.
Chambers: Jay Dow spoke to those neighbors to gauge what they want to see happen now. He also asked the mayor what ordinary New Yorkers can do to make the community safer. It's a story you'll see here on PIX at 6.
Jay Dow: Whether they're taking a discreet look out of the window or a quick peek out of the peephole into the hallway…
Larnese Gourdine: We definitely need more support from our local officials to really walk around this community and see what the residents experience.
Dow: Justin and Larnese Gourdine are constantly on alert in their Bronx neighborhood, doing their best to provide a safe upbringing for their children in spite of what illegal drug activity may be happening right down the block.
What do you say to the families and children who are living, minding their own business and they're forced to live in silence?
We recently asked Mayor Eric Adams to meet us on Larnese and Justin's block for a frank discussion about his constituents who live in fear of the fentanyl crisis.
Mayor Eric Adams: If ever there was a terminology "see something, say something, do something" this is it. So, we have to do a whole new level of instruction for our children that is really an indictment on our society, but we have to be real on what our children are facing.
Dow: A few floors down from the Gourdines’ apartment where we met the mayor, the now locked sidewalk entrance of the daycare facility busted in September for doubling as a hidden fentanyl operation, complete with a trap door to hide the drugs.
Gourdine: Even walking out with our daughter, it's a shame we have to walk outside and that she has to see.
Dow: One-year-old Nicholas Dominici died from exposure to the opioid and three other young children suffered near fatal overdoses inside the daycare.
The sentiment expressed by residents on this stretch of Morris Avenue isn't new. They may suspect that one of their neighbors, whether it's in an apartment or in a daycare, is up to no good, but they question whether calling the police is worth the risk.
Justin Gourdine: If I had that advanced knowledge, I would make a decision for my family because I don't know if I can trust the system to address it.
Dow: How do you convince someone to speak to police?
Mayor Adams: Right. No, and that's a great question, because the reality is if you speak to a police and someone sees you're talking to the police, the bad guys in the community would say, okay, you're snitching. There needs to be another line of communication so we never put everyday residents in harm's way.
Dow: The mayor points to 311 and other city hotlines where residents can anonymously report information. However, the challenge…
Gourdine: You don't want to speak up, because like what's the point of speaking up if you're not...if you're falling on deaf ears?
Dow: ...is convincing residents to have enough faith in the system to pick up the phone. In the Bronx, Jay Dow, PIX 11 News.