September 2016 Salute to Law Enforcement: Special Agent Michael Arel

I am a North Dakota native, and a graduate of the University of North Dakota in 1996. I started my career in federal law enforcement in 1997 with the United States Secret Service. I spend almost four years with the USSS in both Washington D.C. and Las Vegas, NV. In 2001 I transferred from the USSS to the U.S. Customs Service (which would later become the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI). I have been in the HSI office in Grand Forks since 2001, investigating a wide range of criminal activity, including child exploitation, financial crimes, narcotics smuggling, immigration violations, and the exportation of sensitive technology. In recent years, the focus of most of my investigations has been in the area of child exploitation, working as a member of the North Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. I am married and have 3 wonderful children, ages 17, 16, and 12.