Allen Police: Behind the Badge

Chief Steve Dye's Strategy: Community, Wellness & Safety

• Allen Police Department • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Chief Dye shares his remarkable 41-year journey from farm life to leading various police departments across Texas, culminating in his role as the Chief of the Allen Police Department. Discover the inspiring stories and pivotal experiences that shaped his career, as well as his deep-rooted connection to Allen and the strategic vision he brings to this burgeoning city. We discuss his hands-on approach to leadership, which has ushered in significant changes aimed at tackling the challenges of a growing community and promoting a safe environment for all residents.

Experience the transformative impact of Chief Dye's first year in Allen, marked by the launch of Collin County's first police youth boxing gym and a comprehensive three-part policing strategy. The gym, a community-driven initiative, not only provides an inclusive space for youth and officers but also symbolizes the department's dedication to community engagement. Learn about the innovative use of technology and assertive enforcement measures that have made Allen one of the safest cities in Texas. Plus, the APD FitForce program is highlighted, showcasing the commitment to holistic wellness for officers, fostering a healthier and more motivated police force.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Welcome back to another episode of Allen Police: Behind the Badge, we're your hosts Officer Sam Rippamonti, and this is Alexus Birmingham.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Yes, and today our special guest is our very own Chief Dye.

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, great to see you guys. Good afternoon and thanks for having me on. Thanks for coming on to talk to us.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Thank you for joining us.

Chief Steve Dye:

Absolutely Can't wait to dive into some deep conversation with you guys. Yeah, let's go.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So you have a long, extensive career in law enforcement. We'll get more into that here in a minute. But would you mind starting us off with something over your career, something that just stands out to you, some kind of story?

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, alexis, I think you just called me old because I am going into my 41st year of public service. So you know, sammy, I get that question a lot. I mean, I don't know one story to really focus on. I think you know what a lot of people don't probably know about me.

Chief Steve Dye:

I actually grew up on a farm and a ranch up in the panhandle, on the Palo Duro Canyon or God's country as I call it, from a really small town, graduated with 21 other classmates and you know I loved farming and ranching but, for whatever reason, I always wanted to be a police officer.

Chief Steve Dye:

So I drove eight hours from home because I was told that you know, Sam Houston State University is the best criminal justice college in the world and didn't know a soul, went down there, worked at a sporting goods store full-time during the school year, worked summers and Christmas back on the farm and the ranch and worked my way through school. I got my degree and I started in 1984 as a Houston police officer. And then, you know, probably one of my other loves was I love sports. And you know, probably one of my other loves was I love sports. I love football as a rodeo cowboy, but I wasn't good enough to do either one of those for money so I had to get a real job as a police officer. But seriously, I've been really blessed. I'm one of the few people that I know that's really lived my professional dream. So you know, every day that I come in I'm very thankful for that opportunity.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

So where did you start your career out? It was in Houston.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, it was Houston PD 1984. Sorry if any of our listeners are from Houston. I loved working in.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Houston.

Chief Steve Dye:

Was not a big fan of living in Houston. I'm from the high plains up in the Panhandle where it's really dry and I never really could get used to that humidity. So you know I've got family in North Texas, moved back up to North Texas, was with Garland PD for about 14 years and at the urging of my wife I promoted and became an assistant chief in 2004. And then my first chief's job was in Colleyville in 2010. Went on to be chief in Grand Prairie for about nine years. They asked me to be the city manager. I did that for about three years, learned a lot, but I'm definitely a lot more of a cop than I am a city manager, so so excited to return to policing.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Before coming to Allen. You had some ties to Allen at one time, right.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, we lived here when I worked in Garland. Uh, both of our girls graduated high school here and Allen Eagles. Allen Eagles loved the city. So when I retired last year city manager uh, thankfully I was blessed with several opportunities to return to policing and, uh, the Allen opportunity head and shoulders above the other. A great opportunity. So glad to be back, glad to be leading this great department and just trying to make us better, but certainly thankful that I inherited a bunch of great men and women like you, sammy, and then I was smart enough to bring Alexis with me. We appreciate that.

Chief Steve Dye:

So you got the package deal. Alexis worked for me in Grand Prairie and so glad to have her here in Allen with us.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So we feel very lucky to have you here in Allen. I may be wrong, but didn't you turn us down once though?

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, as a matter of fact, I did. You know, I'd only been in Grand Prairie about three months and the city manager at the time, Mr Vargas, called me and asked me if I was interested in being your police chief. But you know I said, look, I can't leave Grand Prairie after only three months, and you know. So he asked me to help select the next chief, and I did. I came over here and helped him select Chief Harvey. Who's gosh? He's been a friend for well over 20 years probably over 25 years.

Chief Steve Dye:

So but you know it wasn't the right time for me to be in Allen back then. I think with my background experiences and really you know now's the better time for me to be here. You know, allen used to be on the edge of the Metroplex and we're really not anymore. We're more in the middle with all of our growth to the north. Not anymore. We're more in the middle with all of our growth to the north. So because our city has grown well over 100,000, we're more in the middle. We're starting to experience more big city problems, more encroachment, particularly from the criminal element at night trying to come in to our city to offend. So I think my style of policing and my background is probably a little bit better fit now. You know, the good Lord always puts us where he needs us.

Chief Steve Dye:

Absolutely, and I'm a big believer in that. So I think now is the time for me to be here again just taking over a great department and seeing how we can get better. And you know we may talk about it, but I think a lot of the crime strategies that we've employed we're already seeing some really good returns on investment, so I think that's probably worth diving into at some point, we feel blessed to have you here.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Chief Harvey is a great man, but the new life, new direction has been a breath of fresh air for everybody here in the department. So, as a whole, in law enforcement, what kind of struggles are we seeing, what challenges are we facing with recruitment for new officers and trying to convince people hey, this is still a great profession.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, I think really, if you go back historically as a profession we did a terrible job of directing the narrative. I was throwing footballs with kids back in 1984, but we as a profession didn't take time to really educate the public on all that community policing that we were doing. And then, because of some unfortunate events across the country, we began to get stereotyped. Some loud voices that were very active started directing the narrative about who we are and what we do. That was actually inaccurate. So I think the profession is doing a really good job now of promoting really where do we spend most of our time in policing? And that is with deterrence, with helping people, with building that trust through those relationships, really through community policing right, that trust building and really seeing ourselves, as you know, problem solvers focused on quality of life, not just as enforcers and call responders. Enforcement and call response are very important pieces of what we do, but you know you've heard me talk about it here I want us to see ourselves as those problem solvers focused on your quality of life. So as police officers, we first and foremost prioritize community needs. So we get good at everything from changing a flat tire to catching a murder suspect, because it's not what we think we need to be doing. It's how do we best serve our community. So in the last decade, 10 or 15 years in the last decade, 10 or 15 years what's happened is support for law enforcement has not really waned very much. It's gone down a little bit. It's definitely back up now. Support for law enforcement and policing is still there. Here's what's changed. Those supportive families no longer want their kids to be cops. That's the problem. So we're blessed here. Recruiting and retention is a huge problem in our profession. At Allen PD we're not having that problem. We're fully staffed, but most of the officers that we're hiring are officers from other departments. I'm so glad they want to come be part of our great culture and our great community that supports us so much here in Allen. But the reality is, if not enough young people are interested in the profession, that's going to hurt us too, because there's going to be fewer and fewer lateral officers to hire right.

Chief Steve Dye:

So what we need to do, we need to help the communities and the public across the country. We need to remind them that policing is an honorable and noble profession. They should want their children to be police officers. Now it's up to the communities to support their police departments. I've always said a community gets the police department that they support. So if you want great policing, you better support them. And then it's incumbent upon those police leaders to have levels of accountability to where they are doing great work and they don't accept laziness or unethical behavior. So you know, we really, from a national standpoint, we really need to get back to branding and marketing and understanding that. You know this should be a chosen profession for those that want to go into public service.

Chief Steve Dye:

But right now, when I walk over to the kids' toy boxes, there's no police car. In there there's an ambulance, there's a school teacher. You know there's a fire truck, there's no police car. Why are we scared to say that police officers are noble, honorable human beings doing a great job? Because, guess what? We're just community members like everybody else. Hey, policing is one of the best professions that you could ever aspire to be involved with. And again, communities vary. Here in Allen, I can promise you you guys know we have no lack of support here. Our citizens love us. But one reason they love us is we aspire to a level of excellence and high levels of professionalism.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Absolutely. We get comments and emails all the time of good deeds. That are patrol guys. It's not just specialized units getting out, Our officers are just. They do a great job interacting with our citizens and building those relationships.

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, I think there's another piece to this. So I've talked about the external piece. I think the other piece is internal. I've talked about the external piece. I think the other piece is internal.

Chief Steve Dye:

Police leaders across the country need to do a good job of supporting and appreciating their police officers. Absolutely, I know, here in North Texas that's normally the case. But I can tell you some leaders are falling short because I got news for these police leaders their officers are doing the most difficult job in America. So it's a hard job. So when our actions may not be popular but they were ethical, we've got our officers and our professional staff. They have to know in this difficult environment that when they do the right thing for the right reasons, that us at the top are going to support them, even though it may not always be popular. And then again, being vocal that what happens in Minneapolis or Ferguson may not be what's happening in Allen. Yes, let's pay attention when policing fails, but let's not overreact. We need to reset the facts versus the perception in some communities.

Chief Steve Dye:

But I want to go back to what I started with. Let me be clear most people in our country support policing and we appreciate that. But now let's take that next step and get back to wanting our kids to do the job. My first 10, 10 or 20 years. If I'd ask a classroom full of kids or a classroom full of police chiefs hey, do you want to be a police officer? Do you want your kid to be a cop? Most of the hands would have gone up. It will. Yeah, if I ask that question now, not very many hands go up. That's a problem.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Do you think that by creating this boxing gym that that will bring maybe some kids into wanting to maybe potentially be an officer one day? Or is that a mentorship? What is all?

Chief Steve Dye:

well. So I mean, you know I've been blessed over the years to create or lead the creation of several programs, because I always believe we need to meet our community where they're at, don't wait for them to come to us. So in 2000, I founded the Unidos program so we could meet our Spanish speaking residents where they're at, in their language, assimilate them you know more seamlessly in their native language and then help build that trust. You know that, coming from a Latin country, you know you can trust us. You know that, coming from a Latin country, you know you can trust us.

Chief Steve Dye:

Boxing gym is another great example. You know I was a Garland police officer for quite some time and I remember when Lieutenant Swaby opened the police boxing gym in Garland in 2000. You know I was there with him. And then, you know, fast forward, I get to Grand Prairie. We opened our boxing gym there in 2012. And now here on February 3rd we're going to be opening the Allen Police Youth Boxing Gym.

Chief Steve Dye:

Really a great program, because that's not about creating the next world title holder. You know I'd love it if a professional boxer would come out of our gym, but our focus is on mentorship. So there'll be a police officer in the gym every day with the coaches, volunteer citizen coaches. This is an opportunity for kids to come in who want to get in better shape and learn the sport of boxing. You know, not everybody wants to be on a team in a team sport, so this is another outlet for them. But it's about helping them gain confidence, understand discipline, understand that when you set goals, how do you work to achieve the goal, and then be proud of that accomplishment when you do get there, but really really just help develop them to be great civic-minded adults.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That's exciting. We took a big part in trying to help get that set up, and by big part we swept.

Chief Steve Dye:

We dusted, we hung signs. Big part we, we swept, we dusted, we hung signs. You're not giving yourself enough credit, because I saw alexis over there on the scissor lift, dusting the.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Oh yeah, she likes heights more than I do. I'm not a big fan of heights and she has no fear, clearly no, the gym looks great.

Chief Steve Dye:

You guys worked really hard for a solid week on that thing and you know another indication of our community. You know we've raised a significant amount of private funding. We've just ordered the equipment, the boxing and the fitness equipment. We've got the ring donated to us by Guns and Hoses North Texas, so it's been a community effort. And then we'll have the first police youth boxing gym in Collin County.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That's going to be awesome.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, and you know, the cool thing is it's open to every kid. You don't have to live in Allen. I mean, if we can help a kid, we're going to help a kid, that's great. Yeah, we're hoping to kick it off Monday, february 3rd and, of course, you can email APDBoxingGym at cityofAllenorg.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I've already talked to you. We fired a or we didn't hire, but we have a volunteer head coach now, right.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, jerry Jimenez has stepped up to be our head coach. Tomorrow night we've got a coaches meeting to identify our other coaches and then right after the first of the year we'll have a couple of parent meetings to talk to them about the program and then again we hope the doors to be open February 3rd.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

And it's for kids ages 10 to 18, correct?

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, male or female, 10 to 18. You know, if you're 12 years old and you've got a 9-year-old sibling, we can make some exceptions. But yeah, generally speaking, that's the age group.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Is there a?

Chief Steve Dye:

cost, very low cost. So the equipment we're going to provide at cost. The registration for USA Boxing is $50, but if there's a financial need and the family just can't pay that amount, then we're going to help pay that. We're going to provide meals for the tournaments, free transportation to the tournaments. Typically they'll be in their training Monday through Thursday from 430 to 730 and then occasionally have some weekend tournaments. So it'll be a very low cost program because we don't want money to be an inhibitor to participation.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Right.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So I talked to Coach Jerry and I said hey, I want to get in there and learn how to box. And he said I got you. I said, but no face shots. He said no, well, look you. I said, but no face shots.

Chief Steve Dye:

She said but Well, look, you're a good looking guy, but don't overly worry about being pretty. And remember, sammy, we have something called Guns and Hoses where you can step up next October. Oh goodness.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I don't know. We'll see how the training goes, starting in February.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Okay, Do you plan to step in the ring or?

Chief Steve Dye:

Let me think no, I've been asked that many times over the years and my answer is always a quick no.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

I mean Were you training the gym at least, or?

Chief Steve Dye:

day at home and, yeah, we're outfitting that gym to also accommodate officer fitness, so we will have a lot of police officers in there working out. I worked out every day when I was a Garland officer in the Garland boxing gym. So, yeah, it's possible. Here's the problem with me working out at the station or at the boxing gym. Okay, here's the problem. I'm the chief of police here and I never want to be rude to my people. So I go in for a 45-minute workout and two hours later I'm leaving because everybody wants to talk about work and something happening, because I don't want to be rude. All of a sudden I'm in there for two hours. So what I found over the years is I get up early in the morning, I knock my workout out and get it out of the way and then that way I'm not hung up in the gym for a couple hours.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That's smart, Very smart, Chief. We've kind of talked about law enforcement as a whole as a profession. Now that you're coming up on that first year here with Alan, can you tell us a little bit how you think that first year, what all we've kind of accomplished in that year moving forward? What's your vision?

Chief Steve Dye:

so, first of all, I can't believe it's been almost a year. I mean, it's been fast and furious, it's gone by really quickly and I've had a blast. Um, yeah, we've done a lot in this first year, that wouldn't you say.

Chief Steve Dye:

We've got, yes, sir, a reorgan, a major reorganization. We're building a new building, a beautiful police building here on our city hall campus that we hope to open end of 26, beginning of 27. I've been able to promote an assistant chief, a deputy chief, three lieutenants and now three sergeants. So a lot of movement. I think we had 10 or 12 openings when I got here. We've got zero now. Now, hey, if you're out there listening and you want to come work here, I will overhire you so you can still apply. Our doors are still open. So really happy with how the recruiting and hiring has gone.

Chief Steve Dye:

And then you know we already mentioned it earlier. You know that you all have heard me talk about is really kind of a three-part strategy that we've employed here. You know, first part we talked about community policing Be engaged in the community, see everybody as a potential partner. Our default answer is always yes, what can we do to be involved and help? And then that's going to build that trust right and that relationship, stride in that relationship so they'll make sure that they're not ever hesitant to reach out to us and that we can hopefully anticipate issues before they occur. You know, the other part of the strategy is we've I think we've done a really good job focusing on how technology can be a force multiplier.

Chief Steve Dye:

You know we've got a great drone program. We have implemented license plate readers throughout the city, which has already paid huge dividends. Crime here in Allen is very low, but we have three awesome retail centers you know our outlet mall Village at Allen and Waters Creek and you know we do have people that do come in and try to commit theft at those locations. So that license plate reader program has been really beneficial in identifying and apprehending organized retail theft groups, by the way, none of whom live in Allen. So we're sending the message, as you guys have heard, not in Allen, it's a no-fly zone.

Chief Steve Dye:

I'll tell all the criminals listening, not in Allen.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That's right.

Chief Steve Dye:

You come here to commit crime, come at your own risk because likely we're going to detect you and put you in jail. And you know that third part of the strategy is responsibly aggressive enforcement. And I don't mean physical aggression, I mean that we're not going to be apologists for putting offenders in jail that need to be incarcerated because we don't want our cars broken into or, you know, things stolen or, you know, certainly to be violated in any way. So I think that three-part strategy has really worked. And then you know, what's worked for me is, you know, let's make sure that all of us are on the same sheet of music, because when that happens and we start pulling together, you know it's incredible. I've gotten a lot of comments from officers on how much they're enjoying the culture, and I think culture is the most important thing at our department because if the team members you know are happy coming to work and they feel supported and appreciated, they're going to be more productive in the community. You all are my best recruiters. I think the reason we have no openings is because you guys are happy here and you're telling other people about it, absolutely. So what does all this mean? Well, I'll tell you what it means the return on investment. It always needs to come back to our citizens. We all got in this to serve the community, so everything that we do doesn't need to be about us. It needs to be about how does this heighten our level of service. Well, it looks like crime in 24 is going to be down about 7% from the crime rate last year that's great and down about 13% over the last three-year average. Well, let me tell you why. That's even more impressive. Allen is already the safest city of the largest 40 cities in Texas. So when you're already a very safe city, when you get a 7% and a 13% crime decrease, that's a huge number because that number is hard to achieve in an already low crime environment. But again, that's the benefit that our citizens are seeing.

Chief Steve Dye:

I'm really, really proud of our fitness program, our APD FitForce program. You know the four cornerstones is physical, spiritual, emotional and financial wellness. So it's not just about being in physical condition to best serve our families and in our job. But how are we financially sound? Are we emotionally well? And then spiritually, are we doing things outside of work where we're not thinking about work? So that way, when we're at work, we're more whole and healthy. So really proud of our FitForce program. I mean I've got a list of other things that we've done, but I would say that you know the policing strategy leading to the reduction in crime, the youth boxing gym and our FitForce program are certainly, all you know, very important and kind of at the top of that list of the many things that we've done in 2024.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Yeah, the FitForce program, that's. It got me moving again.

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, why don't you share your story? Why don't you tell everybody what you've done? Because I'm proud of you.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So kind of got sedentary. Is that the way you say?

Chief Steve Dye:

that you sat around too much. Yeah, you know I'm from West Texas. Yeah, I was just saying that Just said you were sitting around too much.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Yeah, I sat around a little too much and gained a few extra pounds. And all of a sudden we get this, this rumor going around hey, we're getting a new chief.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That is all about fitness and I was like, oh my gosh, here we go, I'm gonna have to start exercising. So I start lifting weights with officer delio and, uh, no, I lost. I was at 217 at that time, lost about 10 pounds just from lifting. And then, uh, it gets even worse. We're looking at going back to the cooper test. I find out, and I get the email from lieutenant faust hey, they want you to be on the panel. And I was like, oh my gosh, I haven't ran that test in, you know, almost 18 years.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So I go up to the track in june because I'm like I'm gonna get moving, it's time. And I run that first lap. And I was a quarter miler back in high school and I could run. And that first lap it was like a two minute lap and my heart rate was in the 190s. I was like, oh my goodness, I'm going to die right here on this high school track in front of all these kids. So just kept going, started exercising. My wife's been a big motivator because she got on board with me. We started doing this thing counting her calories. Never thought I would do that. Don't eat super healthy, but just don't eat as much. And next thing, you know, now I'm 30 pounds or total from February I'm 40 pounds down 30 since June.

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, I'm proud of you and there's a lot of great stories like yours out there, and I'm never going to be an apologist for physical fitness because we signed up to be police officers. This is not a right, it's a privilege, absolutely. But you know, as you know, we don't shame here, we help each other. It's all about living a longer life for your families and then being the most effective police officer that you can be, but really, really proud. You know I'm getting a lot of comments from elected officials and citizens about how we just look different, and that's a good thing. But yeah, we're going to. The good news is we're a lot healthier. The bad news is the program is here to stay. It's not going anywhere.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So I know we've talked the other day and you said 34. There's your goal for next year. Yeah, I'm going to go 35. Okay, I'm going to beat your chief.

Chief Steve Dye:

Okay, what do you want to wager Lunch? Okay, you're on your choice Winner, winner or my choice Loser buys lunch.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Are we shaking on it right here? Yeah, let's do it.

Chief Steve Dye:

It's a deal. Well, you know, I'm gonna do 40 now, alexis I know over lunch.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

The bragging rights though, yeah he cannot lose I'm already sweating thinking about it.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, you need to be scared, but well, you're like 30 years younger than me, sammy. I mean, come on, I got this a little bit. Hey, it's only lunch, don't worry about it. Bob steak and chop house won't cost you that much.

Chief Steve Dye:

No, it's all good. You know again, we don't, we don't compare, we don't shame it's, it's, uh, it and it's a. It's a. It's a higher level of professionalism for our public. We're the largest city department, the most visible, you know. We're representing our city and our profession. So I take that very seriously, it means a lot to me. But that's personally saved my life more than once in my job because I was physically fit. So because I have those personal experiences that literally I would not be here today if I was not physically fit when those things happened, that I just don't take that lightly. And uh again, as long as everybody's working hard and and trying to get there, trying to improve, uh, you know, you know our culture, it's all about supporting them and each other yeah, sleep better, still have more energy it's.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

It's been great my wife doesn't nudge me in the middle of the night, as much like roll over if I'm snoring. Well, that's good, we're all. I'm glad she.

Chief Steve Dye:

Happy life, happy life, amen amen, but no, I just I appreciate what you guys do, you know. Another thing that we've done is we've created a pio unit.

Chief Steve Dye:

Uh, you're my pios yeah so you've created this podcast and you know it's. I think it's great for a lot of different reasons, but just having this, you know, with our great partners over at Pam Roedig, to really tell our story this is what I talked about earlier. We didn't do a good job of directing the narrative. Well, now we can talk about our department, our profession. We can humanize the badge, and these are all good things. I've always said I don't care where you go work, because every department needs great police officers. So we're here to help anybody that's an aspiring police officer. Whether you want to work at Allen PD or not, it doesn't matter. Whatever we can do to help the profession. So y'all have done a great job in leading. When you're a PIO and you answer directly to the chief, you're probably never going to have a shortage of projects. No, you noticed that Kind of figured that out, have you? But no, y'all are doing a great job. I appreciate all you do and I appreciate this podcast.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

That was a great segue. So we have a question from one of our listeners about Drive to Thrive. Can you give us some updates on that?

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah. So when I first got here I knew I wanted to kind of ramp up traffic enforcement, including our freeways, and we were able to do that. And then, kind of concurrently, I found out that Jill Hernandez and Chief Boyd of the fire department were working on a program to reduce traffic crashes, to try to minimize the injuries and the fatalities. So we joined forces and the Drive to Thrive program that really focuses on, you know, being more patient, more kind.

Chief Steve Dye:

Texas is a great culture.

Chief Steve Dye:

We're really friendly, we're really nice to each other but, for whatever reason, when we get behind the wheel, everything goes to hell in a handbag, as they say.

Chief Steve Dye:

So, you know, when you're behind the wheel, we want that same etiquette and so I think, with our increased enforcement, with the drive to thrive educational efforts, it does look like it's making a difference. It looks like it is having a positive impact on our traffic crashes and the severity of those accidents. And so really, really proud of the fire department in our city and our you know, our PAMRO, our public affairs and our marketing group that has really, really rolled this out. So again, you know, I think it is going to become contagious, I think other cities are going to start focusing on this. And so in the North Texas region, you know, why don't we, why don't we work to have our driving behavior match our, our, our Texas, uh, hospitality and culture and personality right. So, uh, you know it's uh, it's definitely making a difference Really excited about it. We're going to keep it going and to hopefully continue to to drive those crashes down.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So, thank you, remember the first time I drove in this area. I'm from the country you may not know.

Chief Steve Dye:

We couldn't really tell. Not enough of your tale.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

But you know where I grew up. When you leave town it's probably 30 minutes before you get to another town. You know there's a lot of dead area and the first time I came, my wife's from Allen and we met in college college and she let me drive home. Well, we started getting into the city. She thought it was hilarious. I wouldn't. I wouldn't leave the lane I was in because I was terrified of all the cars just surrounding at the speed they were going. It's amazing what you get used to when you're driving it daily, but the speeds, especially out there on our toll road, they're just driving too fast.

Chief Steve Dye:

Yeah, the freeways have gotten out of hand. So now we have that, obviously, that focus program on our freeways 75 and Sam Rayburn Tollway and it's definitely making a difference. I cannot go anywhere in the community without getting a positive comment on our increased enforcement and visibility. It's not about tickets, it's about correcting behavior. Absolutely Most of the drivers we stop on the freeway the vast, vast majority don't live in Allen. But you know, I think some of our partners are starting to get on board. I'm seeing a lot more in the Plano Richardson, mckinney freeways and I think that's helping. We really need to do that as a collective group. But the whole point is we don't want people to get hurt or killed. Yeah.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So Chief Farmer, Bull Rider, 40-plus year Chief of Police what a resume.

Chief Steve Dye:

Well, you know, part of that may just speak to the fact that I'm not very smart when I told my dad I wanted to be a rodeo cowboy. He told me, son, if you're going to be stupid, you better be tough. So no, yeah, I've just had a great career to this point and, you know, don't feel any signs of slowing down. So I can't wait for the next 40 years. Well we, appreciate you.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Here in Allen it's a joy. We enjoy coming to work every day, especially Alexis and I and the PIOs, so we appreciate you coming on today and talking to us. Well, thank everyone for listening today. If you want to know more information about any of these programs we discussed today, go to allenpoliceorg, and all that information and upcoming events is on our website.

Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

And make sure to like and subscribe. And if you have any questions, please leave them down in the comments below.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

All right, we'll see you next time.