Michel Stevens

Michel “Mickey” Anthony Stevens

August 27, 1947 – November 4, 2020

Mickey was born in Albuquerque and the only child of Orlando and Betty Jo (Francis) Stevens.  Mickey lived his entire life in Albuquerque and graduated in 1966 from Del Norte High School.  Mickey began ballroom dancing at an early age and continued competing and performing in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He won several awards and competitions, and his first paying job was as an instructor for Arthur Murray School of Dance.  At the age of 26, Mickey read a job posting for Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, applied and found his passion.  He graduated from the Law Enforcement Academy in September 1973, became a commissioned Deputy Sheriff where he proudly served for 22 years before his retirement in 1995.  The one thing that Mickey strongly believed in was ‘my kids’.  In 1976, Mickey and Deputy Louis Wheeler were instrumental in organizing and beginning the ‘Second Chance Program’ for juvenile offenders, where he was awarded the Service to Mankind Award.  He would go on to start the D.A.R.E. program in Albuquerque that would expand to a statewide program, he would continue his love for the program and ‘my kids’ for 11 years and would log over 17,000 hours and worked with over 161,000 kids across NM.  But that wasn’t all…Mickey was a member of the SWAT team, Criminal Investigations, Crime Suppression Unit, Field Training Officer, received 101 Letters of Commendation and a member of the New Mexico Crime Prevention Association. One evening when Mickey was on duty, there was a call for a couple whose house had a carbon monoxide leak, upon arriving Mickey did not hesitate and ran into the house, pulled the woman to safety and gave her CPR until EMS arrived.  His efforts saved both the woman and her husband that night.

After retirement, he was far from finishing his work.  In 1995, he would continue in law enforcement by joining the NM Rangers, a volunteer law enforcement organization.  He served many positions culminating to lead the organization as ‘Chief’.  In 2009, Chief and the NM Rangers began teaching the Master at Arms program at Bataan Military Academy.  The focus was to teach high school kids how to have a sense of pride, self-confidence, self-worth, values and positive decision making skills all while learning law enforcement techniques for future careers.  When he wasn’t on duty or in a classroom, Chief enjoyed fishing, going to the Casino, or watching a football game that involved his beloved Cowboys.

Mickey also worked as an Educational Assistant at Alameda Elementary school, Security Guard with Sandia Casino and as a Patrol Officer for Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District from July 2003 until his retirement in July 2016 because of declining health.  For the past 4 years, Mickey has been in a courageous battle with a heart condition and Idiopathic Chronic Pulmonary Fibrosis disease.  He didn’t let it slow him down from talking with or going on an occasional lunch with one of ‘my kids’.  Throughout his career, ‘Chief ‘ or ‘Deputy Mickey’ changed many of ‘his kids’ lives for the better; and every single one of them changed his life as well.  No matter how bad Chief felt, he always had a smile on his face and with a twinkle in his eye, “I’m good!”

Because of Covid restrictions, a memorial service will be scheduled at a later date.