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A New York police officer, who has grown up playing video games, is being credited with saving the life of a teen by using an online gaming app.Officer Gary Strebel's efforts have earned him the nickname "gamer cop."Strebel's social media and gaming skills kicked in recently following a missing child report, WPIX-TV reports."We looked around to see if there was anything that might help us, and I noticed his computer open with an app I recognize,�� said Strebel, who has been with NYPD for three years.The gaming app Strebel found was Discord, which lets users communicate during game play."I saw the app, and I realized that if he has this on his phone as well, then there’s a chance I can get through to him this way,�� Strebel said.As luck would have it, the teen had the app on his phone and began communicating with Strebel.But Strebel admitted that, for a period of time, he was unsure if the teen would return home.“I don’t know exactly if he’s gonna come home or not, so it’s kind of a little grace period, where you don’t know what’s going to happen and you’re kind of just hoping,�� he said. "I asked him if he would come home, told him I was at his apartment with his parents, and we’re just worried about him. I let him know that I’m just a normal guy. I play games, just like him."About an hour after Strebel messaged the teen, he returned home."It’s always great when you get these kind of jobs, especially when they involve a child, and they do come home. I was able to do it with something we’re not exactly trained on,�� Strebel said. “I was very happy he came home. I was ecstatic that it actually worked and that he believed me to come home.”In congratulating Strebel, his precinct tweeted, "Who said being a millennial was a bad thing? Great work, Officer Strebel, putting your many years of gaming 'research' to work & getting this young #gamer home safe!"