APD School Resource Officer Named “Friday’s Hero”

November 5, 2010

On behalf of Mayor Richard J. Berry, Public Safety Director Darren White presented this week’s Friday’s Hero award to Albuquerque Police Department School Resource Officer Mick Rael. 

On October 22, an anonymous caller contacted 911 reporting that there was a bomb at Eldorado High School.  Though dispatchers attempted to obtain additional information, the caller would not give his name or the location of the bomb and eventually disconnected with the 911 operator.

Officer Rael is the school resource officer assigned to Eldorado.  Officer Rael worked with responding field officers to secure the school, which was locked down to ensure the safety of the students and faculty. The school was thoroughly searched and no device was found. Officer Rael obtained the 911 tape and in researching the incident, discovered that an additional 12 calls to 911 had come in to the dispatch center from the same address over a 12 hour period.  During some of the calls, the suspect made very dangerous assertions, indicating that he was armed and was holding a hostage.  He went on to make very alarming statements about his desire to kill people.

Officer Rael's thorough investigation led to the identification of the caller, a student at Eldorado High School.  Officer Rael worked with detectives to obtain an arrest warrant and the offender was taken into custody.

“Because Officer Rael took these threats seriously, a suspect was identified and apprehended.  Thankfully the offender never had an opportunity to act on his threats preventing the potential for a very dangerous situation,” said Director White.