🎇 DA STAFF SPOTLIGHT 🎇
Senior Sergeant Investigator Michael Grice is a man of many talents, but the thing he values above all else is education.
“Learning about history and different cultures has expanded my worldview exponentially – education is life-changing.”
While he’s been a regular of DFW for quite some time, it didn’t start that way. Inv. Grice was born and raised in the small town of Calera, Oklahoma, where there were just 28 kids in his high school graduating class. He went straight from Calera and joined the Richardson Police Department, where he worked for the next 25 years.
“I knew I didn’t want to stay on the farm, and I always had an interest in figuring things out and reading detective books, so I suppose I had a natural interest in joining law enforcement.”
After retiring from RPD, he thought he was done, but then he got a call asking if he’d be willing to move to Washington, DC, to work for the Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration. There, he was responsible for covert testing of the airport security system. After 8 years, he found a new home at the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. At our office, he’s been an investigator in a court and in the Public Integrity Unit, but now Inv. Grice now serves as a member of the North Texas Trafficking Task Force through Homeland Security Investigations. He works out in the field rescuing victims of human trafficking tied to sex work in North Texas.
“I have a real issue with someone who takes advantage of vulnerable people, and that’s what these traffickers are doing for their own selfish reasons,” Grice said. “A lot of the victims we deal with have never had a support system in their life, they’re not doing this as a choice, so just helping them and being there for them to offer them some services is really amazing. I can’t solve all of their problems, but We work closely with Non Governmental Organizations who can provide assistance with mental health, medical, rehab, job placement, whatever it takes to get them out of this life.”
Inv. Grice credits DA Creuzot and The Jensen Project for giving him this opportunity, but without his penchant for learning, love of adventure, desire to help others, and strong work ethic, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
“It’s extremely rewarding. This can be a very dark world. I’m not in it for the ‘thank yous,’ but what I have gotten are smiles, and there are times that may have been the first time someone has smiled in a long time and that’s very rewarding. It’s very challenging, but to give a victim the tools to better their life and to hold a trafficker accountable is what it’s all about.”
For a real-life look at the work he’s doing, check out this recent news story:
https://lnkd.in/g9Gik5yy
Thank you, Grice! You’re a real hero!
