Leading with Heart: Chief Steve Drew on Community, Crisis, and Courage | Frontline Voices | Veteran Fellowship Program | Hoover Institution

In this powerful episode of Frontline Voices, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew shares the realities of community policing, leadership under crisis, and the long road to building trust. From the heartbreaking response to a school shooting to managing protests after George Floyd’s death, Chief Drew reflects on lessons learned, the role of youth engagement, and the urgent need for collective responsibility. His approach reminds us that real public safety isn't built overnight, it’s earned block by block, conversation by conversation. This episode is a masterclass in service, empathy, and resilient leadership.

Recorded on April 14, 2025.

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Chief Steve Drew is the Chief of Police for Newport News, Virginia, with over 30 years of law enforcement experience. Known for his deep commitment to community policing, youth engagement, and building trust through service, Chief Drew has led the Newport News Police Department through major challenges, including national crises and critical incidents. His leadership philosophy centers on empathy, partnership, and proactive community involvement, believing that true public safety starts with strong relationships.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
[MUSIC]

>> Iron Mike Steadman (00:09):
Welcome to Frontline Voices, a podcast brought to you
by Stanford University's HooverInstitution, where we explore leadership,
service and real world solutions to someof our nation's most pressing issues.
On January 6, 2023,Newport News Chief of Police Steve Drew
received a phone call thatwould change his life.

(00:30):
A six year old student at a localelementary school had shot a teacher,
seriously injuring her and sendingthe school into a full blown lockdown.
Thankfully, the teacher survived andthe situation was brought under control,
but not before thrusting the Newport Newscommunity into the national spotlight and
igniting a broader conversationabout youth and community violence.

(00:53):
That incident first put Chief Drewon my radar nearly two years ago.
Since then, I've been deeply curious aboutwhat it really takes to address community
violence from the perspectiveof a sitting police chief.
Having spent the past few yearsliving in Newark, New Jersey,
I've seen the headlines, the documentariesand the shows like the Wire.

(01:14):
But until now,I hadn't had the chance to sit down and
hear the unfiltered truth from someoneleading the effort on the ground.
In this episode of Frontline Voices,I'm joined by Chief Drew,
who shares his insights on the evolvinglandscape of school safety,
the rise in youth violence, andthe importance of community policing.

(01:36):
We dive into why building trustwith young people is important,
how empathy shapes effective policing andthe crucial role of collaboration
between law enforcement, schools,churches, and the broader community.
As always,I hope you enjoy today's show and
I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Chief Drew, welcome to Frontline Voices.

>> Chief Steve Drew (01:57):
Good evening, my friend.
Thanks, man.
Thanks for taking some time, lettingme spend some time with you tonight.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (02:01):
Well, thank you for making time to bring some insights for
our audience on the work that you allare doing down in Newport News, Virginia.
Like I told you, before we startedrecording, I have an affinity for
your city because my best friend just sohappens to be your mayor, Philip Jones.
And you guys have had,some challenges over the years, and

(02:22):
me having a front row seat tobe able to watch your response.
I said I got to interview him andas soon as we had
this opportunity to do Frontline Voiceswith the Hoover Institution,
I knew I had to get you on the podcast.
I truly am humbled and honored, andappreciate you making time for this.

>> Chief Steve Drew (02:41):
I'll tell you, it goes both ways and for
you taking the time,I'm sure you're busy and
could be interviewing a lot of moreeloquent guests than me, but I, it's.
You caught me right away when you said,let's have,
let's have just conversation that's nonformal, man, just a relaxed conversation.
And I can certainly understand whyyou're best friends with Mayor Jones.

(03:01):
He brings a new energy and I'll tell you,man, he has some hard questions,
but he has a true compassion forpeople, youth.
He is a tremendous supporterof this department.
He's always asked.
We just had our dispatchersaward ceremony and
we had dispatchers from the seven cities,right?
So Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Suffolk,Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton,

(03:22):
Chesapeake.
And you know, he had a long day,man, he had a long day and yet
he took time out just to come andwish them a great evening and
tell them thank you for all that they do.
And that stuff goes a long way.
So I can tell you, I can understandthe relationship you guys both have.
That's pretty amazing,that's pretty amazing.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (03:38):
To set context for our conversation day, and
it's funny because you and I just talkedabout the importance of having touch
points every day, particularly with youth.
I was raised in a single parent homein Bryan, College Station, Texas.
And over the summers my mom had to workand one of the things in our community,

(03:59):
the police department had a youth camp.
So this was before,you know, you get older and
you get all the kind of division andwhatnot, right?
But just I just remember every yearlooking forward to going to that
camp, right?
They had uniforms for us, right, t-shirts,they fed us and stuff like that.
Wasn't until I got older that I realizedthat this really comes about community

(04:23):
policing, really trying to get there,embed yourselves in the community and
be seen, right?
And I also remember,I can't remember his specific name, but I
remember there was a police officer and hewas African American, big, tall, six six.
He taught my karate class.
He was one of the leaders in the camp,right.
But he was just thatkind of massive presence.

(04:45):
So you would see him all over.
And so, I just think that stuff is so
important because I'm sure you're going tobe able to give our viewers some insight.
But how do you lower crimein certain communities and
especially with young men and women,that are plagued by violence.

>> Chief Steve Drew (05:05):
Well, I will tell you first off, when you talk about youth,
whether it's police athletic leagues andthe different camps,
I'm sure it'll come up later in the show,but spring break was here.
So please don't laugh at me, man, butwe tried something new last year, and
it was a big hit.
We tried it again this year.
So police officers dida pickleball camp with youth, and

(05:27):
I wasn't sure if we'd get a lot of kids.
Man, we had about 20, 25 kids that joined.
And I had officers come out ofthe woodwork, right, that wanted to play.
And I'm like, man, it was just amazing.
So your question about how building thoserelationships and the dress and crime.
I think the first thing.
It starts with knowing each other,being able to sit down and talk.

(05:50):
I will tell you, there's only in Newportnews, there's about 500 police officers.
There's not a crime that happens in thiscity that doesn't happen in someone's
neighborhood.
Individuals see things,they hear things, they know things.
The challenge we have is,are people willing to come forward or
are they afraid to comeforward after we leave?
They still live there.

(06:10):
I get that early in my career,that really frustrated me.
This happened right in frontof you in your neighborhood.
Why wouldn't you let us know?
But as you mature in this profession,you get to know people and
you have conversations, andthat makes sense to me.
Chief, when you guys leave,I'm still here, my sons are still here.
So I think building that relationship,having those conversations,
I think community policingbreaks that down.

(06:32):
And I don't care where you go to,if it's the FBI, National Academy or
perf, all the different schools,Pells right up here in Richmond.
The foundation of addressing crime incommunities is community policing.
You've got to have that foundation whereyou can talk to each other mutually
with respect.
Individuals may not come forward and say,
that's the individualwho pulled the trigger.
That's the individualwho stole the firearm.

(06:53):
That's the individualwho laid the gun down.
They may not want to come to court andtell you that, but
I will tell you the best officers are theones that know how to talk to people to
build connections.
And they might pull that officer aside andsay, look,
the stolen firearm isunderneath the bushes.
The car that was used in that is aroundthe corner, parked on the side street.
You might want to look at a particularnickname or particular individual.

(07:15):
I don't want to come to court andtestify, but I'll share that with you.
And that is somuch easier when you have a relationship.
So I might call and say, hey, Mike,look, I don't want to get involved, but
I want to tell you,here's what I know about what happened.
Those things go so far.
The one that rings the bell the quickestis when we hear people doing some posts
about violence in schools.
And the ones who know aboutthat the most are the students.

(07:38):
And they're reaching out to their schoolresource officers who are building
relationships.
I don't put officers in the schoolto how many arrests can we make?
Is to protect those kids and to buildrelationships, to break down barriers.
And that, I believe,is the secret to police.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (07:54):
Even hearing you talk about it,
it sounds like you're comingfrom a place of conviction.
This is something that you'velearned in the trenches.
And can you take us back to even howyou developed this kind of philosophy?
Because you were in some hard cities,you know, raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Now I'm a boxing fan.
We got Aaron Pryor, Ezra Charles,more recently Adrian Broner,
then by no means,is Richmond an easy city.

(08:16):
And then you findyourself in Newport News.
And then literally, like,was it two years ago?
You got the attentionof the entire country.

>> Chief Steve Drew (08:25):
Yeah, and I'm, I'll tell you, I'm not proud of that attention.
I wish it was for something else.
But I will tell you.
So how I was raised,growing up in the Cincinnati area,
I had a lot of influences on me,sports was always important to me.
I was a big baseball fan andplayed baseball and basketball growing up.
And I learned very closelythat team concept.

(08:45):
People may look different and be fromdifferent areas or neighborhoods, but
you're on the same team together.
And I kind of took that samephilosophy when I got to Richmond,
when I started there.
My faith, that's important to me,
how we're taught that we're allin this thing of life together,
regardless of skin color, regardlessof gender, regardless of zip code.

(09:06):
And how you treat people matters.
And I learned early on in the streetsof Richmond, as a young patrolman,
talking to young kids on the streetcorner, you remember the,
when before cell phones, right?
All that stuff was on.
One individual would have the cocaine, theother individual would have the firearm.
One individual would have money, andthen one individual would just run and
like young officers,we just chased whoever ran, right?

(09:26):
And all this stuff was.
So I learned very quickly, talking topeople, treating them with respect,
having conversations,not just talking to them.
When something bad had happened,people got to know me, and
they would introduce me to their friend.
That's true, he's okay.
And we'd shake hands.
How'd you guys do in school, hey, man,I can't believe you got lost that basket.
Who's going to be in the final four?
So just those conversations humanize us,who we are behind this badge and

(09:48):
patches and it would get to the pointwhere detectives in other divisions higher
up than me would call, like, Drew,do you know so and so can you find out,
have you heard anything about this?
And that's kind of how I made my bones,if you will, or
how I got to interact with community.
And that just carried with me.
And the more I've done this job, whetherit's parents calling you, youth calling

(10:09):
you that are troubled pastors, I thinkthat is a great segue into communities.
And it's not, Mike, I tell you, forme, man, it's not just one event.
It's what you do as a fabric.
Every day, whether you're goingto high school, you're stopping,
just someone saying hello.
You stop and get out of your car andyou bait myself now, but
throw the Nerf football, oryou get your baseball out of the back and

(10:32):
you hand somebody a glove and you justplay catch, or you're just talking,
the community things that you do, it'sshowing up to the Boys and Girls Club.
There's, like, eight Boys andGirls Clubs here in Newport News.
I learned that in Richmond.
Just getting out andwalking in and saying hello.
Reading to kids in an elementary school,
that can be challenging if you don'tknow what book you're picking.
But that stuff, when you go to the grocerystore and I'm in plain Clothes.

(10:57):
Chief Drew, you read in my class,my brother knows you or
my sister took a picture with you.
Can I take a picture with you?
Those things matter, andI think it starts at the top.
You've got to push that communitypolicing and build those relationships.
I had people that looked out forme when I was growing up.
Youth pastors, baseball coaches,basketball coaches.
And I just learned early on to give back,interact with people and see people

(11:20):
where they are listen to, understand,not listen to, just to make a response.
And that's, I think, a lot.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (11:28):
I think a lot of times we talk about crime, right?
For a lot of people,myself included, right.
We tend to go back to the wire, right?
And the scene and the crime stats and allthe division or whatever they're called,
their titles, they have to go up there andthey have to report.
And it's a big difference from, like,what's actually happening, like,
on the blocks, in the streets andstuff, et cetera.

(11:49):
So what are some misconceptions you thinkpeople have about what it really takes to
lower crime?
And is that even real, really possible?

>> Chief Steve Drew (11:57):
So I will tell you.
I remember.
I can't believe you've run up the wire,man, my gosh.
So I remember in Richmond,that's exactly how it was.
We would have our CompStat presentations,and they would drill you, like,
what happened here?
What are you doing?
What, so I think when you address crime,it's one.
It's number one.
It's breaking down barriers,people have to know you care about them,
that you care about their neck.

(12:17):
You, and I'll tell you, the best peoplecan tell when you're fake are you if
you're there one time andthey don't ever see you again, or
you're coming through the neighborhood,you're hanging out with them,
talking to them, you run into themat 7:11 and like, hey, I got his.
Just things like that.
So when you, misconceptions, I guessthat police don't care that they're
just here to write traffic tickets and,and make arrests.

(12:39):
And they're only herewhen bad things happen.
I think you have to.
And we have our skeletons from years past.
Right.
And I wish to God we could turn back theclock and do something different 30, 40,
50 years ago, but I think now you.
The first thing for me is setting thatfoundation and bringing in officers.
Right, when I started Richmond,well, you're, it's pop.

(13:00):
There's a lot of things going on here,a lot of opportunity.
Now, when I see officers that wannacome to Newport News, I ask them,
I'm giving my secrets away,why do you wanna get into law enforcement?
And they tell me,
and then I change the question,like, why do you want to do it here?
Why in Newport News?
And What I hear, 99% of the time we seewhat you're doing in the community.
We see you guys at all the youth events.

(13:21):
We see you guys interacting andholding camps and interactions, so
I think when we talk about addressingcrime, there's probably three or
four things that I think Iwould use as our platform.
When I talk to other cities orother chiefs, technology is huge, judges,
juries, defense attorneys, they wannasee the body worn camera footage.

(13:44):
They want to see the.
They want to know whatdid shotspotter pick up.
They want to know aboutcameras in the area.
They want to see the DNA evidence.
So technology is huge in law enforcement.
The second I think isbuilding relationships.
And I'm not going toput these in any order.
If you got rid of everything you justtold me the one thing you have to
know your communities andpeople, the people who.
Grandma who sits on the front porch,

(14:05):
she knows everything going on inthat neighborhood, I promise you.
Absolutely.
So building relationships, technology.
I think training.
We have to train officers different.
You can't just can't sit in a classroomand do death by PowerPoint and
have a lecture, I'll share with youthat about midway through our academy,
we put the computers away andwe just shut the classroom down.

(14:28):
I get no state credit for these officers.
This is just a week that we add on andwe take them out in the community.
We interact with people that are homeless,people that suffer from drug addiction,
people that we go to schools,elementary schools, and read the kids.
We walk into communities, knock on doors.
But I'm trying to teach them communitypolicing out of a classroom, right?

(14:48):
Not in a book that you just read.
I want you to feel it.
I want you to knock on a door andtalk to someone.
Hey, I'm recruit so and so.
And I'm going to be patrolling thisneighborhood in about six months.
And how are you, how long have you lived?
Just wanna introduce myself to you andyou start those conversations.
So training,bringing the right officers in,
putting the word out of thisis what I'm looking for.
Having extensive, whether it's that,the long background investigation,

(15:11):
then does anyone in the department knowthis individual, the polygraph exam, doing
an unannounced home visit, making up thatindividual wants to be a police officer,
do a ride along, I shouldn't say make.
Get them to do one so they see whatthis is, the type of policing it is.
It's not like 45 minutes on TV and we'resolving every crime with commercials.
You're going to see some bad things.

(15:31):
I want people that think outsidethe box or creative, have empathy,
but all of those things,bringing in the right people, technology,
getting to know the community,training is huge and
then making the communitya part of the department.
If you wanna get promoted in Newport News,whatever, I don't care if it's sergeant,
lieutenant, assistant chief, there'sgonna be community members on our panels.

(15:55):
I've learned very early on I'm goingto ask some policy and procedure.
How do you feel about individuals,what's your philosophy?
It's very different when a AfricanAmerican mother ask an officer and
it doesn't matter to me if they're black,white or Hispanic.
How are you gonna treat my son ordaughter if you run into them and
they have an attitude?
I wanna know what that, that's a,to have a citizen ask that,

(16:18):
we're doing two things.
We're getting a response fromthe officer who wants to get promoted to
a higher level.
Draw some blood, and the officers knowif you're gonna be a supervisor in
this department,you had better be community-oriented.
It's having our use of force review boardwhere five citizens and four officers, so
a group of nine.
There's a lot of departments thatare doing the citizen oversight,

(16:38):
and it always concerns officers becausecitizens may not have that training.
You don't know what it's like at 2 inthe morning to get a call of shots fired.
You're going into a crowd andyour heart starts racing.
You pull up, you get out.
You don't know what you're goingto run into around the corner.
But I understand the other side thatcitizens, officers, or citizens,
will officers really judge themselves?
So we put nine people in a room andwe have an audience and

(17:00):
we show the body worn camerafootage every time we use force.
And it's about seven or eight timesa month, so always a month behind.
What happened in January we watched inFebruary in those nine, five citizens and
four officers together, with the officerwho comes forward and gives testimony.
Hey, this is a call I got.
This is what happened.
This individual had mental illness.

(17:20):
They spit on me, butI chose not to arrest them.
I just got them medically evaluated.
And then you'd hear those citizens andofficers ask each other questions.
It's like coming together.
And I think that's how youbuild relationships and trust.
It's attending your local churches,having forums there.
And we don't have to run everything, man.
We can just be a part.

(17:40):
That to me makes the foundation inany city crime is going to happen.
Nobody ever thought we would havea situation like you talked about at
a elementary school, an elementary school.
But there's a video we havethat we actually showed.
An officer turned his body-worn cameraon and he's driving to the school and
he says a prayer.
And he says, God, please help us respondthe way we need to respond and protect

(18:04):
those who we need to protect and pleaselet me make it home to see my family.
And I mean, it's touching to hear it,but we see those things.
So it's how you treat people all the time.
When you hit those high points or thoselow points, you're prepared for it, but
you can't, it can't be standoff,say it's black and white.

(18:25):
You violated this or you were speeding.
You gotta get a ticket.
You rolled through a stop sign,you're getting a ticket.
Those things, it can't, It's not,life isn't black and white.
It's I was speeding cuz I wastrying to get to the hospital.
My son got injured at football practice.
Hey, be careful.
Just drive safe andlet me know how your son's doing.
Here's my card, boom.
It's how you treat people that makesall the difference in the world.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (18:46):
And I can definitely relate to this too,
because in 2012, I found myself asa young platoon commander patrolling
the streets of Afghanistanin Helmand Province.
And you'd have IDs going off, right?
You'd get shot at.
And guess what?
You still have to go out there andtreat people with decency and respect.

(19:07):
And so we know that police officersare under a lot of pressure.
Quite frankly, living in Newark,Harlem, domestic violence, right?
You have youth violence, right,drugs, I mean, on a daily basis, too.

>> Chief Steve Drew (19:26):
Yes, sir.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (19:26):
Daily basis.
These are things people with daily basis.
So for you to show up, I know it takes amental and physical toll on your officers.
And you've been,you got to Newport News what year?
2019 or 2018?

>> Chief Steve Drew (19:38):
2018, the summer of 2018.
By the grace of God,it'll be seven years July 4th weekend.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (19:43):
Okay, 2018.
What happens in, pandemic hits andthen the death of George Floyd.
And literally overnight, it felt likethe entire country just erupted, right?
How was that crisis?
Navigating that and
basically protecting all the goodwill youhave built up the previous two years.

>> Chief Steve Drew (20:04):
So I will tell you, you're right.
It was like, wow.
So let's start with the murderof George Floyd first.
So we started seeing protestsin larger cities and
eventually came to our mid-sized city.
That summer we probablyhad about 52 protests.
And when, I mean that, demonstrations,walks, you'd see some,
usually on the weekend, but there'd bea few in the evening, during the midweek.

(20:28):
And I will tell you, well, I can tellyou every one we would have officers at,
some of it was out of the way,just off to the side.
Individuals would take to the street and
there would be some like, why are youletting these 50, 60 people on the street?
And I'm like, look,I'm not going to run into this crowd.
Let's have some conversations.
So I would bet, I would say, Mike,about 95%, I would walk with them and

(20:51):
have conversations, andwe had a good relationship.
Like I said, you're putting a trust.
So most of those people that wereprotesting and demonstrating,
they knew me.
We had a relationship.
I remember Pastor Swannfrom Ivy Baptist Church.
There was a walk fromthe south end of our city, and
we were walking through a community,and people on the porch would wave, and
then they would say, hey, Chief Drew.

(21:13):
And Pastor Swann said, these citizensknow you, and he was taken back by that.
And we just had that conversationhow important that is.
We did, in those 52 demonstrations,protests,
whatever you wanna call it,we didn't have any cars burnt.
We didn't have any buildings vandalized.
We didn't have any assaults, andwe didn't have to make any arrests.
Probably five orsix asked us not to walk with them.

(21:36):
They wanted to meet afterwards andhave a group conversation.
So it does take your toll.
I think you've gotta rememberwho you are in here.
For me, it certainly was my faith andtalking to different, Pastor Maxwell,
or Bishop Riddick, Pastor Swann,Fossil Smalls, those things helped me.
But, yeah, I could seethe exhaustion on officers, and

(21:58):
I would just talk to them and like, look,if you need a break, take the day off.
It's okay.
But for me, I certainly gotmy steps in that summer, but
I learned a lot more about people andtheir feelings.
And I would, hey, it's different here.
There's a different feel in Newport News.
We were called to Portsmouth at timesto help out with situations over across

(22:20):
the roadway in Hampton,which borders Newport News.
But I will tell you, it was,I got to meet people.
And some people weren'teven from our city,
but it was just the frustrationthat they were feeling.
And I get it.
And I'm not saying we'rebetter than anybody else, man.
I'm just saying that building thoserelationships paid off for us.

(22:41):
And I think we even became closer asa city during that timeframe of how we
handle that.
We don't have to, no,you can't be on the street.
You know what?
I can block traffic.
Traffic can go around for 10 or 15 minutesto allow us to get across an intersection.
And that's how we did it.
But it was challenging.
COVID was certainly challenging.
A couple of situations we've had at our,in our schools have been,

(23:04):
have been challenging.
And I see parents that the situationwe had at the elementary school,
parents wanna see their kids, andeverything that we're taught in
the academy is we're gonnaput up the barricade.
Nobody comes in, nobody comes out.
We own the, right, that's great in a book.
When you see parents with tearsrunning down their face and
they wanna know that their five-year-oldor their six-year-old son's okay,
we have to do some things different.

(23:26):
You have to improvise.
I think that becomes from experience andleadership and empathy and understanding.
When I saw military men andwomen come there because their son or
daughter was, I was like,my gosh, they're fighting for
this country and they just wanna know thattheir seven or eight-year-old son is okay.
We don't have to be, no,this, talk to people.
And I think that makes all the difference.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (23:46):
What year was that that the shooting incident happened?
And I would love for you,to the best of your ability,
just kinda bring our viewers up to speed,because we keep referencing it,
but haven't turned into the specificdetails about the incident.

>> Chief Steve Drew (23:57):
Yeah, so Richneck Elementary, we had a young man, elementary
school, brought a firearm to school,had some frustration with this teacher.
He pulled out that firearm,pointed it at her and fired.
And that was Mayor Jump Phillips.
That was his.
He'd only been in office, like, six days.
So it was, what, 20?

(24:17):
We're in 25 now?
24, 22, 23?
24, 23.
It was 23, 24.
Yeah, it was 20.
So I can remember, wait,did they say in elementary school?
My first thought was we hada parent who was upset.
Never in my wildest dreams wouldI thought it would have been
a child as we got there.

(24:39):
And we moved classroom by classroom,
we moved the children to the gym ormultipurpose room, if you will.
I'll tell you, there's images,
there's things in thisprofession you never forget.
Images that I saw, officers holdinghands with kids walking down the hall,
some officers singing tokids that were younger.
We knew pretty quick wherethe incident occurred, the room,

(25:01):
the little boy had been taken.
We had placed him in a police car andset him with an officer.
We were getting medical aid tothe teacher, Abby, to get at the hospital.
Grace of God, she survived.
No one else was injured.
But questions that came up,and I mean, man, it was.
The first thing I did is, once we hadthe school clear, is to get out and

(25:22):
tell the media, look, I can't talkto you about the case right now, but
I want to let everyoneknow that everyone's safe.
Parents were coming.
They were getting in lines.
They were starting to get frustration.
Matter of fact, Philip and I, the mayor,walked the line where people were waiting
to see about their children andtold them everything was okay and
kind of gave them a little bitof a brief of what had happened.
But parents were like,how did this gun get in?

(25:44):
And how did this happen?
And why didn't we respond?
And.And there's still a court case, you know,
that are going on in lawsuits.
But I saw officers react to kidsjust like they were their own.
And I saw officers talk to parentslike they understood where they were
coming from.
And, I mean, parents that were retired,grandparents picking up their children,
military folks that were up at Fort Eustisthat came down, but the media that.

(26:08):
Man, the media that showed up here soquickly, and
what I underestimated was whatthe following day would bring.
And, I mean, you had national media here,and that became overwhelming.
And, we started to talk about,how do we address this?
And, it was kind of like let's just behonest with, let's just be open and honest
and tell as much as we can without hurtingthe case of what the situation was and

(26:31):
how officers reacted.
I couldn't be more prouder.
I couldn't be happier with the waythe officers responded to that scene and
how they reacted while nationalattention was on our city.
And I will tell you,it affected officers too.
A lot of those officers have little ones,they have kids in elementary school.

(26:51):
But that was a hard time andit really made us, let's reevaluate,
strengthen our partnershipwith the schools.
And of course things have been putin place since then and God forbid,
but I will tell you,you just never know what the day holds.
So you always train you in the militaryknow you're always training for
when that day comes.

(27:12):
And it's something that those images andthat day that I'll never forget that.
Like the mayor showed up.
I remember he came to the scene and
we kind of walked into school togetherjust to let him see the kids were okay.
We addressed the crowd,
then we talked to the media beforewe all went home that night.
But yeah, that was, that was impactful.
But those, man, to see those kids faces,that was impactful.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (27:36):
What are the chances something like that would happen
too and bring somuch national attention on Newport News?
I only imagine the scrutiny thatyou all were under at that time,
both within the school andthen in the local community.

>> Chief Steve Drew (27:49):
Yeah, I remember a lot of school board meetings I attended
just to answer questions.
We went to the school board andschool administration and
had a conversation with our communityat a press conference right there.
The outlets asked the same question,how did he get the gun?
Where did it come from?
Who bought it?
Who, who gave it to him?
So we worked our way through that.
Then you're workingthrough the Commonwealth.

(28:10):
Whoever thinks about a case against a sixyear old with a firearm and you know,
what facility can even andChild protective services involved,
all of those different things.
And then who would have ever thought.
I have never had.
We have training fora school shooting, but
it's never at an elementary school andanother child at that age.

(28:31):
But I will tell you, when officers gotthere, they reacted, coordinating off
the schools, making sure that peoplewere safe, clearing the classroom.
And even when he was in,in with another officer in the police car,
we still went through just like we wouldanything else and checked each room,
those that were locked andunlocked restrooms.
We did find some people hiding in closetsthat were afraid that they weren't sure.

(28:53):
But yeah, then we had the whole discussionabout should schools have metal detectors?
Should children on, on behavioral plans,how do they look that.
And that's kind of the school side,but for me it was,
when a kid would come out of thatclassroom and walk up to an officer and
hug them orwhen you gave them to their parent.

(29:15):
And you'll see kids run to their mom anddad.
I saw mom and dad run into their kids.
And it just, it really hit me here.
And still I get choked up a littlebit talking about it because, I mean,
those images, it was like the citycoming together on something tragic and
working through it.
So we've gone to other cities andtalked about how we responded.

(29:37):
I'm sure we made a thousand mistakes,there's no blueprint for that,
there's no book for that.
But you learn and how do we do better?
And God forbid it never happens again.
I remember went to Loudoun county and
had a conversation about school shootingsthere and looked at after action reports.
We debriefed here and checked on officers.

(29:59):
We even brought in counselors forofficers here.
When the school shut down for a while andit reopened, the officers who responded
that day went back to see the kids as theycame back to school, kind of giving high
fives on school, like first day of school,like opening day in baseball.
You're just high fivingkids as they come back.
And sometimes it's justpicking up the phone and

(30:21):
hearing a parent upset andthey wanna yell at you.
And then about five minutes inyou hear them start tearing up.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (30:27):
Yeah, yeah.

>> Chief Steve Drew (30:27):
It's just having that understanding of how impactful
something like that is too.
And Mike, the last thing I'll say is,again, an underestimate on my part,
it happened at the schoolin that immediate area.
I did not realize how big of an impact itwould have across our city and our region.
I just did not realize how quicknational attention would be or for
something like that.

(30:49):
I probably should have prepared forthat better.
So when we did some interviews, man, I wasjust trying to be open and honest about,
heartfelt about.
And we were on the tail ends of.
Remember down in Texas,there was a shooting.
Yeah, there was some criticism, and I'venever compared us to that, but I think
there was, we got some accolades aboutresponse, but it wasn't like that for me.

(31:10):
I was very thankful howthe officers responded and
God forbid that everyonewalked away from that scene.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (31:16):
Yeah, these situations are hard.
And people ask me nowadays, they say, andI think I said this on a previous podcast
episode, but what advice wouldyou give to your younger self?
And I always say forgiveness,because the older I get,
the more I realized that, like, we werekind of put in impossible situations.
People think like, these are fixedthings that like, you can just.

(31:37):
The answer is right there.
But like, at the time,you don't have those answers.
So as a young Marine officer, I thoughtwe could win the war in Afghanistan,
whatever that meant, you know, like.
But you're in these situations,these schools.
And when I was coming up in high school,even before high school,
I remember when Columbine happened, right?

(31:57):
And that was like the first major school,we're almost numb to it now.

>> Chief Steve Drew (32:03):
Right.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (32:03):
And, I don't know your thoughts on, kind of on the school as
like this place now that has to be superprotected because I go back and forth on
the metal detectors because that's justa different environment that I grew up in.
And I also wonder psychologicallyhow it's affecting kids.

>> Chief Steve Drew (32:22):
Yeah, I'll tell you, it feels like you're in the room with us.
As we heard debates and questions,
we kind of let the schoolsmake that determination.
I remember even talking withCongressman Bobby Scott about how he felt.
You talked about Columbine back then,we surrounded a school.
We didn't let anybody in or anybody out.
The gunshots were still goingoff inside that building.

(32:42):
And we waited for our SWAT teams, right?
The most.
So the whole thing has changed since.
And now the first two officers, andit might be someone from Newport News,
it might be a statetrooper that had court and
the first two that respond are goinginto to address that threat.
So we do training forthat stuff all the time.
And we also do for schools and churchesand even some private industries have

(33:05):
asked us, will you come in andjust talk to us about.
It used to be like run, hide, fight.
And there's different names forit now, but it's still the same thing.
Barricading in place, getting out.
If you can prepare to defendyourself with anything you have.
But the other side is, know youremployees, know who you work with.
And if somebody's that's really loud andcuts up all the time, begins to withdraw

(33:27):
for somebody who is very quiet begins tovoice out that their behavior changes.
I remember the schools talked about,let's make sure that what happens in
the community that I'm making surethat I let the school know that, hey,
we had this disruption in the community,it might filter over into the school or
if somehow in the school.
Make sure you let us know that by Philover in the community over the weekend.

(33:49):
So it's always like, how do we do better?
What are we not thinking of now we haveaccess to school cameras immediately?
That's not to watch like what they'reserving for dinner in the cafeteria.
But it's somuch better if officers on their phones,
we can flip a switch in our real timecrime center, something's happening.
They can see on their phone what's goingon in the school as they get there.

(34:10):
So we just continue to evolve, making surethat we have that we're able to badge our
way into schools and have entry intothe schools if something happens.
Not trying to get a hold of somebody thathas a key or to come down the hall and
unlock a door.
It's just those little things that, thatwe learn as we develop and get better and
better.
But yeah, I mean, I'm like you.
We didn't even have an officerin our high school growing up.

(34:30):
And I don't know what it would be liketo walk through a metal detector, and
have it beat because you have a pairof scissors in your backpack.
So, yeah,
I'm sure that there's people much smarterthan me that evaluate the effects of that.
Those are hard decisions.
And I don't, I pray to God that wenever have a situation like that again.
But, I mean, we see it across our country.

(34:53):
And one of the harder thingsis being a chief for and
in law enforcement 30 plus years, when Isee new officers graduate that are 22,
23 years old, I know,just like you in the military.
Right.You know what people could be forced to
see, what they're going to have torespond to challenges they have.
And it, I just look at it much differentlytoday than I did 30 some years

(35:14):
ago when I graduated.
And you make some great analogieswith the military life in a country
that may speak a different language.
You don't look the same,you don't talk the same, and
you're there to protect some.
And I just can't imagine how difficult andchallenging that could be,
I think there's a lot of things there.
So maybe it starts with a smile anda handshake moving forward.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (35:36):
You mentioned that you've been in the force for
about 30 years now, right.
And we've seen this proliferation ofshootings in schools since that time.
What do you just, you know,not philosophical,
maybe not we don't gotthe economic stuff on it because,
you got smarter people than us that say,hey, why this trend is happening.
But what is it that you're seeing?

(35:57):
What shifted?
What changed?
Why are schools looked as soft targets?

>> Chief Steve Drew (36:02):
Yeah, so I think, I think two angles.
I think one is, is that sometimes youget individuals that are so frustrated.
You talk to my son,you talk to my daughter that way, and
they come in and they erupt.
I'm not talking the adult side now or ayoung person that is bullied in school and
this has nothing else to live for, thatthey're mad and angry and wanna lash out.

(36:24):
I'm going to make you pay for how youtreated me and how you made me felt.
And who would have ever thought, weplanned for bank robbery since the 20s and
30s when we through history.
But school shootings were somethingwe never really focused on.
I don't remember even having a class inthe academy when I started about school
shootings, right?
You talked Columbine andhow many years ago was that?

(36:44):
So, I think that those are the twothings that individuals behavior,
access to firearms.
I think is much more prevalenttoday than it used to be.
And we see younger and younger.
You know, on a side note,we had a stolen car here.
We got a pursuit with last week and theytold me that it ran into a building, but
they said,chief we did a tactical stop and

(37:04):
we arrested the driver and the passenger.
I'm like, good.
Is everybody okay?
And they're, yeah, the only problemis chief, they were 12 years old.
I'm like 12 years old, man.
I was watching,
I was sitting at home watching a baseballgame with my dad at 12 years old.
I was playing outside inthe front yard at 12 years old.
So, yeah, I think the stuff inthe schools, access to firearms,

(37:26):
anger, frustration, lashing out,how easy it is to get a firearm.
And I think the schools have always been,this is a institution of learning.
We don't think we're goingto see violence here.
And some of those niceties Ithink are taken advantage of.
So I think you continue to put schoolresource officers there, not for

(37:49):
school to prison pipeline, butfor safety and relationships.
But it's I will tell you, Mike,
I don't have an officer atevery elementary school.
We do in high school and middle,but I don't have one at elementary.
I wish that I did the 26that we have here,
even if we just startedbuilding relationships.
But that's one of the things thatalways keep police chiefs up at night.
Is, is.

(38:09):
Are people,your youth of your city going to be hurt?
Those that can't defend themselves?
But I think it's that way thatin churches are the two that
I probably worry the most about.
You get the entities that have,we have a disgruntled employee, right?
But when you talk about churches andschools, those are the ones that I guys,
when you're doing reports, park ata school parking lot so you're visible.

(38:34):
But that's why we're goingto every football game,
basketball game just to maintain calm andpresence.
But those are the two that keepme awake the most at night.
When we talk about shootings ormass shootings,
it would be schools and churches.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (38:48):
So, when we talk about youth.
We've talked a lot quad about youth, andyou know your numbers better than me.
But are you the big perpetratorof violence in the community?
Is that an assumption, or.

>> Chief Steve Drew (38:59):
No, so we still do a compstep meeting.
It's not as much as like the wire is.
It's more information sharing andmaking sure that we're looking at that.
We track everything in law enforcementcalls for service, two of the categories.
How many individuals under 18have suffered gunshot wounds?
And how many of our perpetrators under18 are the ones pulling the triggers?
So we average probably in our city,we had a horrible year in 23.

(39:25):
We had a record low in 24.
So in 25, we're starting to get back tothat mean right back to that average.
We average about 25 homicides a year.
Not proud of that.
This is kind of where we are the last 5,6, 10 years.
And we usually have three juveniles.
So what is that?
A little over 10% or right around10% juveniles that lose their life.

(39:50):
I don't have people running aroundthe city just shooting innocent people.
It is 90% of our violent crime are peoplewho know each other, who had a beef.
You know, you and I might havegot into it in high school and
we're back on the basketballcourt tomorrow.
Today, that social media stuff lingers forlike a month later.

(40:12):
People.I think that attributes
to some of the violence that wesee in the community, in schools.
But yeah, I think those things playsuch a bigger role today than we
when we were growing up.
And yeah, it's just, man, the youth.
I think it's harder today to be a youththan it was when you and I were young.
I'm sure you're younger than me, man, butI just, I don't remember all the pressures

(40:35):
and stress that young people have today,but I do think there's hope.
I don't know if we have time before,
but I tell you a story ofa high school student who was.
She kinda texted and said,I don't wanna do this.
I don't want to do this life anymore.
And she made one call andshe called her school resource officer and
man, he went and picked her up.

(40:56):
He took her to the behavioral clinic.
They kept her for three or four hours.
And they said,we're going to release you to your mom.
And she couldn't get a hold of her mom.
And she called her high schoolresource officer and he said, chief,
can I pick her?
I'm like, man, absolutely.
And she called and has talked to me.
She's one of our young adult policecommissioners, so we have a relationship.

(41:17):
And just to hear hertalk about him that way,
man, I can't teach at an academy.
That's who you are in here.
So bringing the right people in.
We've talked a little bit about that.
But to me, youth are just the foundation.
And I do see it younger.
I do see the firearms in the handsof younger people more getting mad.

(41:41):
And we do have some problems withindividuals who get upset and
will shoot firearm rounds into a house.
They don't care who's in there, right?
They don't.
So that's an issue for us.
But I would say probably,
probably 10% what we deal withdeath under 18, probably.
We're usually about three homicidesI think we had last year.

(42:02):
But I do track what is ourviolent offenders are involved
in violence and are victims,what are under 18.
It's about 10, 12, 15%.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (42:16):
And is the majority of violence concentrated in low
socioeconomic areas?

>> Chief Steve Drew (42:20):
Yeah, I do.
We do see it in our high poverty areas.
But I will tell you,it's much more affluent now.
You know, people move around.
We get a, I'll tell you,we get a lot of violence.
I see in some of our high povertyareas are individuals who come from
other communities, other cities andtry to prey on that community.

(42:43):
So I when we talk about, my gosh,neighborhood X is, is such a problem, but
a lot of the problems aren'tindividuals who live there.
It's individuals who come fromother areas and try to pry or
take advantage of people who live there.
Whether it's, hey, this is mygirlfriend and our family friend and
I'm just going to hang out here.

(43:03):
This is an elderly couple and I'm goingto try and stay in the community or
hang out on their front porch.
I do see it there.
Traditionally, if we look backover the last seven years,
matter of fact, we have,we're heavy in technology in our city.
So when ShotSpotter came here,which is gunshot detection,
we gave them our data justto have clear eyes on it.

(43:23):
And they looked at where we're seeingshots fired, people who suffer gunshot
wounds, people just shootinga gun in the air or homicides.
And the areas, they identified two mainareas and they were areas that you and
I patrolling would know thatis where we have our problems.
But it was a third partytaking a look at that and
putting sensors on top of buildings that Idon't even know where the sensors are at,

(43:46):
but I know what areas they cover.
So yes, traditionally you do see it inyour, in your poverty stricken areas.
Not to say that we don't have itin pockets in other places and
that it moves social media, cell phones,I think has changed a lot of that.
But I do think that we seein our city's East End,
which is the most impoverished, is wherewe probably place the most officers and

(44:10):
have the most violent crime,if we look at it in the long term.
You might have a spike here anda spike there, but long term,
consistently we're in those areas.
And even though we've reduced crime thereover the last three or four years, that's
still the area that is so volatile, and itcan kick off just if there's one incident,
my number one concern is retaliation.
Just make sure that.

(44:31):
I'll tell you what's really benefited usis addressing shootings, where someone's
just shot in the arm, addressing itthe same way we would as a homicide.
So I'm bringing the same technology.
I'm bringing the same 10, 12,15 detectives out there to address that
shooting, to try andstop anything in retaliation or
address that on quicker end before wehave a loss of life somewhere else.

(44:52):
That's something we startedabout three years ago.
Chief Creswell is really behind that,
that let's address these smaller shootingsthe same way we address a homicide.
And I think.
And when we had that year in 23 and 24,that really curbed a lot of things.
Also, it's places that we go thatif you're coming out to buy illegal
narcotics and you have a child in the car,we're notifying child protective services.

(45:14):
I want to look at thingsin a different way.
Not just long, we made an arrest.
Now what do we do with this young child?
But I need those home visits.
I need to involve.
Are there problems here?
Is there something we need to be ahead of?
This is an individual,let's say something's going on at home and
something in the school.
I don't think law enforcementcan do it on their own.
And maybe that went back to the earlierquestion about misconceptions.

(45:35):
I think we have to holistically,and we talked about Mary Jones,
one of the things he's big onis what is police, what is fire,
what is schools, what is churches,what is community organizations,
what are outreach workers,what are we all doing in this community?
It can't just be,what's law enforcement doing?
I think if we, if that's our goal,just what is police going to do?

(45:56):
I think we're on our back foot already.
It has to be a collaborative, if you will.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (46:02):
I was in one of the roughest cities in America, you know, for
quite some time, right?
I had a boxing gym.
But I'm looking back, I never hada problem with the kid in my gym.
And the reason being by the timethey walked through that door,
they had self selected andI had a little bit of leverage over them.
Now, that doesn't mean they would come inand be all chatty Patty all the time, but
after about that six monthmark seeing Coach every day.

(46:24):
Good morning, coach.
Good morning, coach.
Good morning, coach.
Now, you had that rapport with them,and out in the street,
some of these kids could have been tough,right?
And then unfortunately, we did lose acouple to juvenile detention and whatnot.
But it didn't happen whenit was inside my gym.
And so one of the things that.
That did teach me, and I do struggle with.

(46:45):
Now, is that the importance ofthat kind of community effort?
And how do you build, like, a culture of,like, excellence in our own way?
Like, right now, walking around Newark andHarlem, one thing that I worry about is
the legalization of cannabis, because Isee these kids smoking all day, every day.
Now you're throwing on alcohol.

(47:06):
Now you're throwing on these kind ofimpoverished neighborhoods, bad food,
bad water, and it just seems likea recipe of disaster for me.
And I can only imagine the type ofchallenges that's presented for
y'all while you're trying tolower community violence.

>> Chief Steve Drew (47:19):
Yeah,
some of the things that used to belegal are being decriminalized.
We've had kids that have overdosedon the gummies in school.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (47:28):
Yep.

>> Chief Steve Drew (47:29):
We see kids that go to school, and then take off, and
get into trouble in the community, in theneighborhood, driving without a license.
We have a big issue with youngpeople stealing cars today, and
they can't drive them andhave accidents and get injured.
But it's just so much.
It's so different.
But you said it, man.
When you talk about that consistency,okay?

(47:52):
And I really think that's the key,it's not just, hey,
we wanna interact with youth today.
It's, I'm stopping inthe neighborhoods that I stop.
I want young people here,and I want citizens.
I know Chief Drew goes to Food lion onthe weekends when he does his grocery,
and he'll come up and let us talk to him.

(48:13):
Or I'll see someone look at me andlike, are you.
And I'm like, yeah, how are you doing?
Taking that time.
It's calling a mother when her son hasbeen a victim of a violent crime or
her family, and asking her, are you okay?
I think that goes a long way.
It's attending school board meetings.
It's walking in the community onFridays when the weather gets warm.
I gotta be honest, when it getswarmer on Friday evenings, man, I.

(48:36):
I'll go out for two hours andjust pick a neighborhood and just walk.
And sometimes kids will come out andwalk with me.
Sometimes citizens will.
Sometimes they look throughtheir blinds and wave.
But officers see that.
And now officers will come get outof their car and walk with me.
And next thing you know, you'retalking to two or three neighbors, and
you're just chatting it up a little bit.

(48:57):
But you're right, man.
It's like, consistency.
I might not be sure right away.
And I saw you on this week, I saw you nextweek, and you're back here the week after.
That's building relationships.
So I think that investment of time andenergy into our communities that
we police, I think has a tremendous,tremendous benefit, a tremendous problem.

(49:20):
I know I got a call today from a motherthat's frustrated her son has run
away from home.
He's a football player, 13 years old,and she's just having a con, Chief,
I didn't know what else to do.
And I'm like, what's he upset about?
So she gave me his number,I've tried to reach out to him.
He's texting back that he's okay,but he doesn't wanna go home yet.
He had some issues with mom and stepdad,so at least we're having conversations.

(49:43):
And I was like, how does he know me?
And she said,he was in your drone camp last year.
So we're starting.
It's just.
You never know who you meet,who you talk to,
how that's going to pay off down the road.
Sometimes it may be five years later,it may be.
I'm sure you've met people that you workedwith younger than five, six years later.
Man, you really helped me out.

(50:05):
Just that time you spent with me.
Whether it's your time in the military ortime with boxing, the people
you've mentored, that stuff comes backaround and people see your heart that way.
And so I think the investment in people,investment in our communities is really
the secret, like we talked about earlier,it's a secret to community.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (50:25):
Yeah, one thing I try to be very conscious of, cause I have
so many youth following me, is the thingsthat I put out on social media.
I know it sounds crazy, butjust like being adult, you know,
I don't drink alcohol, soyou don't see alcohol on there.
No profanity, no none of that,because I know that they're watching.

>> Chief Steve Drew (50:44):
Make good choices.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (50:45):
Yeah, right.
But it's crazy because so many peopledon't want to be role models anymore.

>> Chief Steve Drew (50:50):
No, we were just in a community meeting last week, and
I was a little shocked.
But the organizer said,it's time for men to step up,
fathers and stuff that happens.
They should be learning disrespectin the home, not for firemen, or
policemen, or other.
But there's got to be that home structure.

(51:11):
You've got to learn some of that at home.
And if you don't have it, I think itmakes it a little more challenging for
other individuals to instill that.
And I was like, man,he's really laying it out.
And he was a younger speaker,but he had just came out and
he said men need to step up more inour communities and be leaders here.
And we have got to instill respect anddignity in our homes, in our houses.

(51:33):
If you can get away with talkingto your mom here, my gosh,
you're not going to respect someoneout in the community that says,
please slow down or hey,what are you stopping me for?
And, and hey, I didn't do that.
Stop bothering me.
And sir, we're just got a call here andit's, yeah,
the dangers and just good choices.
Who you hang out with, where you go,what you put in your body.

(51:57):
Things can change just in a moment.
And that, it's just,it's good decision making.
But if you don't havesomeone doing that to you,
if you don't have your mom raising you.
My mom and dad, my grandparents.
Your grandparents,the neighborhood grandmother, if you will.
Right.You better stop doing that if you don't
have that.
If you don't get that on an early age,

(52:17):
I think it's harder toLearn it as you get older.
We use a lot of returningcitizens to do community work.
And they talk about choices thatthey made that sent them away,
that may cause problems in Richmond orin Newport News.
And trying to tell young men,you don't have to go this light.
You don't have to make thesesame mistakes that I made.

(52:38):
You don't have to just because everyoneelse, to be strong enough not to.
You don't want to lose20 years of your life.
But unfortunately, Mike,I think some people we deal with,
they don't expect to live past 25 or30 years.
That's like, what?
I'm 17.
What are you talking about, 25 or 30?
I'm trying to get to 18.
So it's just some real,it's just challenging mindset and belief.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (53:01):
People have a lot of limiting beliefs.
And I also think, to be quite frank,a lot of people are depressed.
I just don't think they have the.
We just haven't been ableto kind of diagnose it yet.
But that's what it is.
You start thinking about, like,
you grow up, you see people thatare inside all day not getting sun.
Sometimes you have a parent that'sthere but really not present.

(53:21):
She's depressed, she don't even gotthe energy to raise that child.
I'm starting to see stuff that,you thought, it's.
You thought it was normalto sleep on a couch.
Now you realize thatthat's housing insecurity,
that this kid is bouncing fromhome to home and I had a teacher,
I had a high school assistantprincipal on the previous episode, and

(53:41):
he talked about his school, 70,80% of those kids need free and
reduced lunch because they'regoing to class hungry.
That might be the only meal that they eat.
So we're just dealing with,like, a lot of stuff.
But I'm with you.
I think it's a combination, right?
People do need to understandthe role that police play.
But ultimately, I do think communitiesdo need to take some responsibility.

(54:03):
But it's hard to do in thisworld where we're blaming and
there are things in the ether thatmake things more challenging.
Let's just call it what it is.
But doesn't void our responsibility.

>> Chief Steve Drew (54:15):
That's true.
No, that I grew up.
I was in church every Sunday.
Sometimes I didn't want to go.
But, man, I'll tell you what, I.
You learn so much, right, just beingaround people who talk about God and
faith and hey, we love you,we're praying for you.
And I think some kids don't hear that.
I think some kids don't, don't feel that.
So they hang out with orjoin groups, if you will, gangs,

(54:38):
if you want to use that term,that provide that for them.
Hey, I get bullied, I get made fun of,okay, now I'm going to carry a gun.
Now, I'm respectful just becauseI have a gun in my waistband.
I may not know how to use it,but I carry one.
So now any altercation I find myself in,there's always a gun in the equation.
Or that I don't, people don't careabout me and I have mental illness and

(54:58):
there's nothing worse than overdoses and
individuals who take their own lifebecause they don't think anybody cares.
And when I was 22,why would someone do that
at 30 some years into this profession?
I understand why people do that,I understand why people do.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (55:20):
Well, Chief Drew,
we've got people tuning in from allover the country, all over the world.
You've brought us into kind of yourphilosophy and the realities of kind of
some of the challenge that you'refacing in a city like Newport News.
You got any closing remarks or
insights you'd like to leaveour viewers with today?

>> Chief Steve Drew (55:35):
Well, first of all, I'd like to say thank you for
allowing me to be here,spend some time with you.
I don't take you do a great show andto allow me to spend some time with you.
I think anytime you have conversations,you learn from, you learn from each other.
That means a lot to me.
You just do stuff about the military andthings you face in Afghanistan.
My dad was in the Marines and Vietnam,he doesn't talk about it a lot.

(55:56):
And just hearing some things you said,I'm like, man, what an analogy.
You're doing the same thingin a whole other country.
What I would leave is thatwe're all in this together.
This badge andthese patches don't make us any different.
We may be held to some higherstandards in what we do, but
at the end I'm just sure we're human.
We have kids, we wanna go home in our,in our families as well.

(56:19):
But making our city safe andinvesting in our youth, that's our future.
They're going to be taking care of us,Mike, when you and I are older,
much older.
And it's not just law enforcement,you have to have leadership and
it has to be a collectiveeffort in our community.
So I go back to saying it,it's our churches and our schools.

(56:40):
It's opening up the schools after hoursfor kids have somewhere to go and
play basketball.
Like the mayor's got an initiative nowwhere we're doing Friday night nets where
a couple entities are staying openlater on Friday nights, right?
There's tense of being on the street, theyhave something to do or somewhere to go.
And sometimes they go in there andplay basketball,
sometimes they just go in there andhang out and that's okay.
It's our firemen that insteadof being in the firehouse and

(57:03):
responding to a medical or a fire that Iknow they have to be in such a proximity,
but it's driving that fire truck maybearound a three mile area of their fire
station and just being in the community,their presence, interacting with people.
It's our schools talking with police.
What happens at school maybreed over into the community.
What happens in the communitymay bleed over to school.
Having those good relationships,not being so tight lipped,

(57:24):
having good relationships with ourdoctors where they treat gunshot victims.
And hey,this is what they disclosed to me,
that they're struggling in thisneighborhood, this community.
Again, our churches,the benefit that they bring,
our commonwealth attorney's office,not everybody.
You don't have to have a criminalrecord for everything.
Bringing two entities to sit down andlet's discuss what happened and hey,

(57:46):
would you allow them to maybe workat your store for the weekend, for
the window they broke as it stood.
Again, the criminal charge.
I think all those things,the different out street outreach workers,
returning citizens coming back in.
It has to be a collaborative effort andI think.
But it does take strong leadership at thetop to bring all those things together.
We have conversations about hey,what are we doing?

(58:08):
What are all these different entitiesdoing in this one neighborhood.
And when you start there,it's kind of like the military, right?
You're winning in neighborhood andthen you branch it out, and
you're branching out, andyou're branching it out.
I think it can't be just one entity.
It can't just be police.
I look at if I had a community and I hadsomeone like you that could go in, like,
hey, I'm going to offer kids to come hereand do boxing on Tuesday and Thursday.

(58:31):
You're investing in the community there,you're changing minds, you're opening
the door to something that maybe theyhave never seen or been around before.
Taking them out of someof that environment and
let them see different things.
Investing, mentoring,all those things, giving back.
And maybe it's cuz I'm getting old, Mike.
I don't know.
I think that stuff really matters, man.
I remember a baseball coach calling me andchecking on me, meant the world to me.

(58:53):
And an officer stopping by, just sayinghello to some kids at a boys and
girls club, shooting a game or pool.
I think those matter.
So if I was leaving one thought,
everyone get involved because oneperson can make a difference.
But we're so much better together.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (59:08):
I got a quick follow up question for you too,
since you brought up your dadspecifically military veterans, you know,
how can we get in the game?
Where do you see we can makethe most impact in communities?

>> Chief Steve Drew (59:21):
I was just sitting there listening.
I know we have a large issue withhomelessness in our city like you do in
larger cities.
So I see some veterans there andI enjoy talking to them.
But how could veterans, I'll tell you, Idon't know that many kids in middle school
would know what it's like to be in themilitary, unless they're father, uncle,

(59:43):
brother, mother, aunt, whoever, butto have a military veteran sit down and
talk about, hey, I was in Afghanistanwhere I didn't look the same as the people
who live there andI'm there to protect them.
And sometimes we had a hard timeunderstanding each other and, and
it was challenging with you had these,these things that would happen,
bombs that would go off or mines orwe'd bring in new equipment and

(01:00:06):
they would look at us and not really sure,are we friends or not friends?
Are we sizing each other up and relatethat back to, hey, maybe what's going on?
Not saying that our communitiesare battlegrounds, but really that same
philosophy that individualsare coming into your community,
patrolling your communityto try to keep it safe.
And you're learning each other.
I never thought about till I heardyou make the analogy of, hey,

(01:00:29):
you were in Afghanistan?
And we're trying to, man.
And I'm like, man,we're in some communities, and
I don't want to say that ourneighborhoods are war zones.
They're not.
Our crime is down forthe last two years now.
But if I had a military, a soldier,someone in a military veteran to talk
to young people about, this is whatlife was like for me in the military.

(01:00:53):
And the people that were in the militarythat wore the same uniform, we had a bond,
much like you guys might do in sports or,hey, we're from the same neighborhood.
Hey, we're in the same unit.
And it just relate some of those lifeexperiences and things you learned.
I think that could go a long way.
I've never thought of it like that.
Until you kind of hit onyour time in Afghanistan.
I mean, I think that could have a big,it might not reach everyone,

(01:01:14):
but, you're in the military.
You were in Afghanistan.
Not here in Newport News or not Chicago,not Cincinnati, you're in Afghanistan.
What was it like over there?
Well, we didn't speak the same language,and it was hard.
I think that could be really beneficial.
Could have some challenges that Iwould love to set some military folks,
some veterans who live life, right, andseen some different things in other

(01:01:38):
countries, talk about whatlessons that they've learned and
relate it back to individualsthat we're talking about.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (01:01:46):
Yeah, we got a lot of post 911 vets out there that are they
grew up very mission oriented.
They know what it's liketo lead selflessly.
But, a lot of them are just kind ofsitting on the bench these days.
And so, you know, one of the reasonswe even have this program,
the Hoover Veteran Fellowship program,is to get them off the bench and
in the game, doing projects to makethe world a better place in their own way.

(01:02:08):
So, again, we'll share thisinsight with them, and hopefully,
this will even prime youwhile you're down there.
Maybe you come across,a young vet and say, hey,
how about you get in the game here?
Come throw some footballs with the kids orsomething.

>> Chief Steve Drew (01:02:21):
Yeah,, man, that's a great idea.
I've never looked at it that way.
So, I learned something in our timetogether, man, that's, that's,
there's a lot of opportunity therebecause, I mean, look, in Newport News,
we have the Naval Weapons Station, right?
We have the shipyard builds theseaircraft carriers., we got Fort Eustis.
I mean, we're surrounded by military.
We're sorrounded by them.

>> Iron Mike Steadman (01:02:41):
And I'm ruling the bet they're probably already there.
They might not be self identifying orpeople don't know because they're little
league coaches, basketball coaches,they're out there.
But we just got to do a better job,
particularly now in the peripherationof social media and so much content.
And I want to give you congratulations.
I'm gonna give you all those flowers.

(01:03:01):
When we first started, I mentionedthe content that you're all putting out,
that is so important.
Because you can't take it for granted thatthe messages that you all are putting out
on your social media platforms andthe content you're creating,
they're not hearing thaton a regular basis.
They're hearing the other stuff.
And sothere's a lot of noise out there and

(01:03:22):
we do need to do a good jobof creating signal above it.
So I said you're doing a great job.
Appreciate you coming on this platform.
To all our viewers out there,if you haven't done so already,
be sure to subscribe to Frontline Voiceson your favorite podcast hosting platform.
And if you're a military veteranthat's interested in being part of
the Hoover Veteran Fellowship program,head over to hoover.org/vfp.

(01:03:43):
Until next time, peace, love.
Have a great rest of your week, everyone.
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