Kidnapping, Casework & Calls: Detective Sam Shipley

We sit down with Detective Sam Shipley to talk about service-driven policing, from a kidnapping case that ends in a reunion to the quiet, relentless work of solving everyday crimes. We also get real about what helps a community stay safe, including calling police early, learning practical self-defense, and building trust through communication.

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Detective Shipley

Officer Sam Rippamonti 0:02

Welcome back to another episode of Allen Police Behind the Badge. We're your host, Officer Sam Ruppamani and Alexis Birmingham.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham 0:08

And today our guest is Detective Sam Shipley. Thank you for joining us.

A Kidnapping Case With Relief

Detective Sam Shipley 0:12

Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming on, Sam. We've been trying to get you for a while. Well, I'm glad it worked out. So before we get into who you are, you've been in law enforcement for a while, right? Correct. How many years have you been in? Coming up on 12 years. That's awesome. So I'm sure you got some interesting stories over your 12-year career. I'd say a few, definitely, yeah. Any anything that comes to mind, Ralph Tell? I think uh one that will always be really memorable was a couple years ago we had uh it was a kidnapping. It was a non-custodial parent that had taken a little boy. Um and basically it was a mom's ex-boyfriend. And obviously, being as a parent, that's like every parent's worst nightmare. So what had happened is he took him and basically said he was going to keep him for a while. Uh, she had no idea where he was taking him. He kind of ceased all communications and he was communicating with her with her through this app. Um, and fortunately, I was able to get some emergency information from the companies and we're able to pinpoint an IP address for an apartment in Grand Prairie. And we went down there and we were able to find the kid hidden in the apartment. And but by far the coolest part of that was after we got him and we got him down to in the parking lot into one of our cars, able to call the mom. And then watching the mom show up and see her little boy, he's like four at the time, and to see that like kind of embrace again. That's something that I'll never forget. That just that was one of those ones where I'm like, man, there's a lot of challenges sometimes in this job, but what better reason to be able to do what we do? So that was obviously a really, really awesome experience.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 1:55

Yeah, that's awesome. I thought you were taking us down a really dark path for a second there.

Detective Sam Shipley 2:00

No, setting it. It was a happy, it was a happy ending.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 2:02

That's awesome. Those are those are the stories we like to hear. Yeah, and did this happen here in Allen or was this your prior agency?

Detective Sam Shipley 2:09

Yeah, with my old agency.

Why He Chose Policing

Officer Sam Rippamonti 2:11

Also, so you didn't start here in Allen. Where did you I mean, like what brought you into law like law enforcement and yeah, I it's kind of by accident, honestly.

Detective Sam Shipley 2:20

Um, so when I was kind of figuring out ultimately what I wanted to do with my life, I didn't really know what. I just knew kind of one of two things is I wanted to be able to always have a job that could take care of my family, but also I wanted to spend a lot of time with my wife and kids. Uh, that was always kind of top priority for me. So as I looked at things, uh, I originally got interested in nursing. Thought that would be I knew that there would always be a demand for that job. Um, and then I also wanted a job where I could serve people. And I guess my love for service kind of happened. I served a two-year church mission. And during that time, all you do is you forget about yourself and you try to help other people. And during that time, I recognized, man, I was just so happy. And you kind of realize you're happy because you're not worried about yourself anymore, you're worried about other people. So I realized um, you know, nursing could provide probably a lot of those opportunities, being able to um help people and when they're in the hospital or wherever that might be. And so as I was waiting for school to start, uh, there was an application for police opening in another apartment and ended up getting hired. And once I started doing it, I recognized law enforcement was gonna offer a lot of the same opportunities. Um like I always say, is usually when the police are out, people aren't having the best day. So if you can play a part in helping them or helping them get through that, I want to be a part of that. And then also, I mean, you get to chase bad guys and hold people, you know, yeah, right, get bad, you know. So that was that's what kind of got me into it. And now you're here. I love it. Got you in Allen, and you're gonna retire here, right? That's my plan.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 4:04

That's my plan, yeah. Are you originally from Texas?

Detective Sam Shipley 4:09

No, I'm actually from Southern California. So my only regret is I didn't get here sooner. So I grew up in Orange County and Santa Barbara, California. Yeah. Um, and was there until I went back east to for college and to play football, and then we moved back out here to Texas and I've loved it. Yes. So you played some college football?

Officer Sam Rippamonti 4:30

Just a little bit, yeah. What position did you play?

Detective Sam Shipley 4:32

So I played inside linebacker. Um, I always like hitting people, and so that was a great way to pay for school and um provide a lot of opportunities.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 4:40

So you you are you a big sports guy?

Detective Sam Shipley 4:44

I love sports. Um technical to play. I'm not I'm not an average uh uh avid baseball watcher or anything like that, but I like watching football and stuff, yeah.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 4:53

And uh basketball, right?

Detective Sam Shipley 4:57

Well, yeah, I mean I know Alan PD's got a pretty good basketball team, and so yeah, let's hear about this new basketball team that has not played a game yet, just for the record. We have not. Um I think it'll be awesome. I I just miss competition. So uh I love basketball, but just getting a chance to compete with guys and um do that every once in a while is always fun.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 5:17

So seems like all the guys are excited. That's all I hear. Cambiano, everybody in the department's talking about this.

Detective Sam Shipley 5:24

Well, and uh thanks to you guys, we got some pretty awesome uniforms. So no, but I I think it'll be a great time. And most people is it's fun to compete again. I mean, you don't really get that opportunity once you get out of college very often, right? To be able to actually like play games against other teams. So it should be good.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 5:44

I'll make it out to watch one of them. Should be good. They say you can't dunk, so not that I don't think anybody on our team can both, but let's say who do we have as that's dunking the basketball? I want to know. I know we have some competitive guys on the team, so we do. We do it serious and get out there and play. So that'll be fun to watch. Yeah, it should be exciting. Yeah, we our chief may or may not be pretty competitive.

Detective Sam Shipley 6:06

So that was one of the things that I kind of fell in love with when I came here. So yeah, he likes to win. He likes to be the best, likes to win, which um me personally is that's the kind of team you want to be on.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 6:19

Yeah. Right. Yeah, look over there when we do our police fire hockey game. Oh, and you see that uh fist pump going and he's yelling. I'm like, oh, that's awesome. Super excited to be out there. He gets into it. So I'm sure he'll be at some of y'all's games as well. Hopefully they're good endings, but it should be good, it should be a lot of fun.

Detective Sam Shipley 6:39

So, what do you do for the department? No, so I'm currently uh assigned to criminal investigations. Uh, I work property crimes and then a little bit of crimes against persons. I love being doing investigative work, so I was grateful that um after I came here I got a chance to kind of rotate back into that.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 6:55

Yeah. So you did that for your prior agency?

Detective Sam Shipley 6:58

Yeah. So at my old agency, I worked uh property crimes, crimes against persons, and then uh crimes against children. That's a tough one though. Tough unit to be in. Yeah, I think you know, I've told people it can be very difficult at times, but also super satisfying. I think one of the unique things about um child crimes, when when maybe you are talking about uh, you know, a child death or something like that, you go into it, and this could either be either be probably one of two things is either a parent has done something wrong and committed a crime, or this is the worst day of their life and it was just an accident, or you know, baby sometimes they just they die. And so it's kind of a very unique challenge because you're trying you want to do a great job, but also you recognize is you're seeing this person when the worst thing in the world has happened to them, and you don't want to you don't want to interrogate and start breaking somebody over the coals and they're already going through every parent's worst nightmare. So um there is that dude, but also um being able to go to a parent or to their kids and say that guy who was abusing, whatever, he'll never be able to hurt you again. He's gone forever. Uh that's a pretty awesome feeling to be able to tell them that and just let them know as you're safe. Like that that person will never hurt you again. So that it's kind of a caveat to it.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 8:28

You enjoying where you're at now though in investigations?

Detective Sam Shipley 8:32

I do, I love it. Um I will say I would love to get a chance to to work child crimes again. Yeah. Uh but I also know the guys that are over there really love what they're doing.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 8:41

So we do have a very, very Yeah.

Detective Sam Shipley 8:43

And I work and I worked with them before, right? So in my old agency, I was on a task force with them, so that's how I actually got to know all of them and kind of what opened my eyes here to Allen anyway.

Child Cases And Doing It Right

Officer Sam Rippamonti 8:52

So yeah. That's awesome. So not to jump all around, but uh you said you did a a two-year mission for your church. Where was that at?

Detective Sam Shipley 9:03

In basically the southern tip of Texas. Yeah. Yeah. There it is. I'm just gonna sit over here and let them talk now.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 9:17

So you caught me off guard one day when all of a sudden he started Sam started talking Spanish, and I was like, does that come from Sam? I think he overheard me speaking to my mom in Spanish one day, and he was like, Wow, you can speak Spanish. And then I heard his him speak Spanish, and I was like, Wow, you definitely were living by the border. You have somebody that you speak really good Spanish with because his Spanish is amazing.

Detective Sam Shipley 9:40

Thank you. It uh it's been a huge blessing. Obviously, I think you see is I know what I look like. So a white guy with red hair is usually not who they picture speaking it. But you know, it's been I've had opportunities to one, I mean, you have a chance to give a voice to people, and I and I've interviewed people that they're like, hey, you know, thank you so much for I'm so glad that you speak it because there have been so many times when you know I haven't been able to give my side of the story or they're afraid to call, right? Because they're just afraid they won't be able to communicate things. Um, that's been awesome. And then also, as man, I've had a lot of guys admit to crimes or where they're hiding dope or things like that because they're talking at the car and more comfortable. Yeah, we're just registering it all. So um I never imagined how much of one an advantage or a blessing it would be in this type of work, but it has been. It's almost so I think it's super cool.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 10:31

I tried to learn it's would you feel so? I know enough to get me in trouble.

Detective Sam Shipley 10:36

Yeah, but learn a new language. I tell people all the time is it takes time, yeah. But obviously being immersed in it for a couple years, and that's kind of all you hear is makes it a little easier, I guess.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 10:46

So is that where you picked it up completely, or did you have a little bit of it when you moved down there?

Detective Sam Shipley 10:50

I did high school Spanish, and I wouldn't say I was any good at it. And and as people know, it's kind of like with English, the way that we speak isn't textbook, you know, we don't speak properly. So um, yeah, it was all just being down there and talking with people, and fortunately, I've been able to have lots of opportunities to use it here to keep up with it. And that's really awesome.

Spanish As A Policing Tool

Officer Sam Rippamonti 11:10

Yeah, that's amazing. So, Detective and CID, what are some other things you got your hand in here in the department? I know you're on a few other things.

Detective Sam Shipley 11:18

Yeah, so the big one is uh I'm on our SWAT team and then uh on our SWAT competition team as well. Oh wow. Um we have two separate I didn't know we had a company. No, it's just uh we have a few guys that do the SWAT competition every year. Yeah. Um, so I'm on that team as well. You know, SWAT is something that from the very beginning of my career I knew I wanted to be a part of. And so having that opportunity when I came here to to join the team, and it's been been very, very thankful for it and it's been an awesome experience. It's kind of that brotherhood. Yeah, it definitely is. It's you know, it's kind of a second family, and you know, I I got a chance to work with a lot of them at my old agency, and being around them then, I was like, I like the feeling I get around this group. So that was a great that was a thing I was looking forward to when I came over here.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 12:08

Yeah, I think I remember the first time I met you. We were on you probably remember this, but we were doing a uh it was one of those big joint training days where we had SWAT negotiators, everybody out there working. You were an actor, you weren't on the SWAT team yet.

Detective Sam Shipley 12:21

Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember that.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 12:22

And you were the person uh in the house that we were having to go negotiate with. And I was like, I don't know who this guy is, but he's really good at playing this car. No, I was getting so frustrated. That was a fun day. He did not want to talk, and then he would talk for a second, then he would quit. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is going on forever.

Detective Sam Shipley 12:39

Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And I told people, you know, especially in scenarios like that, most people agree, is I think you almost learned more being the bad guy, right? Because you just kind of get a different view of it. But yeah, that was a lot of fun. I definitely remember that. That was were he were he I was in train field training still, or as a mini academy, so probably a few weeks.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 12:57

Brand new, so yeah, yeah. I hadn't even met you yet, and I was like, and they were all, yeah, this guy's gonna be awesome. He comes with a lot of experience, and everybody was talking high, and it's it's all been true so far. So well, thanks, Sammy.

SWAT Team And Training Stories

Detective Sam Shipley 13:09

From what I see, it's been uh I've loved every minute I've been here.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 13:13

So you're also an a rat instructor, you um teach with me and Sammy as well.

Detective Sam Shipley 13:18

Yes, so the rat program is something I didn't I know a whole lot about, you know, and essentially for people who don't are not familiar with it, it's uh self-defense class for women. Uh, but it's a very unique setup, and it really teaches them techniques and things that can be applied to real world situations to really increase their you know awareness and ability to be safe. Yeah. Right. So where can you find out more about this program?

Officer Sam Rippamonti 13:44

Uh it's gonna be listed on our website on alanplace.org. And um, our classes are all free. Um, so if you look at the calendar, it'll list any of our upcoming classes if anybody wants to join.

Detective Sam Shipley 13:57

It's been super cool. I as we've talked, is watching the growth for women, you know, seeing them come in on week one, and man, the idea of a possible physical confrontation happening. I mean, you can see it in their eyes how terrified they are. And then seeing by week four, when you kind of put them through some more hands-on stuff, to see their not only the growth but the performance in those situations, and then to see how much almost happier but just more confident they feel in if they ever had to deal with it. That for me is one of the coolest things to see is to see them really empowered because as we've talked, you know, I remember hearing in that class they talked about, you know, that a very high percentage of women every day walk around and get in several situations every day where they're extremely fearful. And I remember when I heard that, I went home and I asked my wife, and I was like, Hey, Casey, do you ever feel like this? And she goes, Yeah. And I remember I felt about this big because I was like, you know, why didn't you know? And she's like, Well, you didn't ask. And hearing that, I remember thinking, Is wow, like I can't, I can't imagine what that's like, but that kills me to know you feel like that. And I'm glad that we can give women an opportunity to not feel that as much, or to at least have more confidence that if something like that happens, that they can they can protect themselves. So that's been a lot of fun.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 15:32

I started with the class when Lieutenant Page brought he kind of the one who helped implement this program here in Allen in 2013. So I was on board right from the start, and uh, so we've done a lot of classes, and there's a lot of weeks I'm like, Oh, I gotta teach tonight. You gotta go to class, you know, you're just tired, the week's grinding. But then when you get there and you start teaching it and you see their confidence just grow. And uh they come in shy on night one, and on week four, after they complete that last night, they walk out of there, and you're you're gonna have to tell them, like, hey, don't go pick fights in the parking lot. Don't go to Walmart and get in a fight with somebody because they steal your buggy or all jokes that their confidence just gets goes through the roof, and you can tell and just in their in their the way they hold themselves. Yeah, and just I think making sure that they're more aware of their surroundings and yeah, that you know, to be vocal.

Detective Sam Shipley 16:27

Um and you I mean you guys have mentioned numerous times is nothing's really that confident complicated, but like you even said, is just being vocal and being assertive, how often that diffuses situations. But I think like even last week working on some stuff, if you were ever on the ground, you know, it was cool to see them is how many of you were this would have been your worst nightmare, you know, if you ended up on the ground with it and a bunch raised their hand, and it's like, but now you have a skill set that can help you out. Um I think it's always cool, like you said, is you always remember your why. There might be a night that I want to teach, but what's the why? Why am I doing this? And that's been really cool to see. That's very mothers and daughters doing it together, and yeah, it's it's pretty fun.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 17:12

Yeah, and I don't there's really no age. I mean, we always ask that they're like, How old is it starting out? I think 16 and we do minimum 14, you know, with a either older sibling or parent guardian. Yeah, but there's no age cap really. I mean, we have ladies that are even in their 80s taking our classes, and it's it's it's interesting. The class is set up for success. Yeah, nobody's gonna come through this program and fail. Even if you can't do every move you know we teach, you're still going to get something out of it.

Detective Sam Shipley 17:45

Yeah, it's just it's good stuff. Well, and like is the techniques are very forgiving, right? Um, even if you do it imperfectly, it's still really, really effective. Yeah, where with some martial arts, they're like, you gotta twist this around. And I'm like, look, man, I could try it a hundred times, I'm probably not gonna do it right. Yeah, I gotta remember all that. Um, it's an awesome program. Like I said, I was grateful that I heard even in that class that Alan has a great program. So yeah, it's kind of nice to be able to ride those coattails a little bit and be a part of it. So it's good still.

R.A.D. Self-Defense For Women

Officer Sam Rippamonti 18:14

I wanted to ask, so what are like some of the cases that you deal with on a day-to-day base?

Detective Sam Shipley 18:21

So it'll be anything properly, so it can be thefts, um, you know, stolen vehicles, certain frauds, get crimes against a person, like if you're on call, and that would be one of your family violence offenses, um, kidnappings or things like that.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 18:39

So what does your caseload typically look like?

Detective Sam Shipley 18:43

Uh usually carry about 40 to 50 cases. Oh wow. Um, which is a little bit different. That's pretty in property crime, it's it's pretty normal. Um the the nice thing about that is because it's not as time sensitive, maybe, as maybe an assault against a person, right? So um, you know, if somebody has their generator stolen or whatever if that has to wait a few days until you can get you know certain information, that's okay. So it works out carrying a little bit bigger of a caseload as opposed to at the CAC you're doing uh crimes against persons.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 19:20

Have you had any interesting um things stolen or things that would surprise you that would end up as a case? I heard you solved a big case the other day. The other day? It was two. It might have been a couple weeks.

Detective Sam Shipley 19:34

Oh, that was uh you're talking about the big case. Yeah, the big case. This was uh a theft of some Birkenstock sandals that we solved. Um that's serious. That was actually right after I got up there. Uh, you know, my sergeant we were doing it, he goes, Here, I'll I'm gonna throw you some cases and I'm not gonna lie. So it got stolen at the ice rink, and so I started reviewing video and was able to find the person that when it happened, then I went and cross-referenced it with the sign-in sheets and got those Birken stocks back to her, you know. Yeah, I don't we laugh because pretty much I was just ready for my button ready for my documentary after solving that.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 20:11

Yeah, I hear once you break a pair of Burks into your feet, though, like you don't want to start over with a new pair.

Detective Sam Shipley 20:17

That they were pretty important, but I even that one, I think it's I guess the kid part of you is it's fun to solve things, right? Yeah, right. Um you know it's fun to, like I said, is reviewing video, and then you're going down this list of names and you're trying to think is okay, was this timing right? And it's fun.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 20:34

Yeah, and you know, we laugh because it's a pair of sandals, but those may be very important to somebody else. And the fact that you take the time and you you treat every case the same, essentially. If there's leads there, you're gonna work it no matter what the item is that went missing.

Detective Sam Shipley 20:49

Yeah, and I, you know, I even working on the streets or now being in CID, I always like to tell our citizens, I'm like, hey, don't hesitate to call us, right? I mean, that's why we're here, and I think I always tell them is man, if something doesn't seem right in your neighborhood, let us come check it out. It takes you know five minutes, and or it could be something big. Like I remember in my old NC, it was I think it was like December, it was probably like 15, 20 degrees outside. And this lady called and she's like, Hey, there's a guy walking around with a flashlight, it was like 10:30 at night, you know, looking at houses. And so went up and I and I saw this guy and started talking to him. And it turns out he was visiting family. He's from Russia, and he'd never seen Christmas lights before. And so he's walking around looking at Christmas lights, right? And for him, 15 degrees was like beach weather. Yeah, um, you know, it's ended up being nothing, right? But I say that to is for our citizens is look if it's important to you, it's important to us. Yeah. So we'll go check it out. We would much rather give us an opportunity to to do it. And so uh in that case, yeah, they were she was happy. I guess they'd been she had had them, and then it was sisters and daughters. So It was important to them.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 22:01

Yeah. There's nothing worse than when you when you go to these community events and somebody comes up. I almost called you the other night. We heard this or saw this. I'm like, don't just call us.

Detective Sam Shipley 22:14

You're our citizens. Like, we take pride in protecting you or doing those things. So that's why we're here. We're here 24 hours a day.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 22:21

I was like, use us kind of thing. And I get that, like, especially you see it more with your older generation. They don't feel like they won't, they don't want to put us out. They don't want to bother. But we have to get it through to them. Like, you're not bothering us. This is what we're paid to do, it's our job. Is we'll come check it out. Call us. Let us get out.

Detective Sam Shipley 22:38

So we're putting that out on the podcast here. Yes, call us. I agree 100%. Um, you calling us, that might be the key to, you know, yeah, catching somebody who was doing really bad things, or you know, we've had a lot of those where somebody calls, hey, this card doesn't look right, and ends up being, you know, a big deal. Yeah. So absolutely.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 22:56

Yeah. Absolutely. So yeah, I would definitely say call us. Call us. So you're married?

Detective Sam Shipley 23:05

I am. Uh my wife, Casey, and I have been married going on 17 years. She's from California as well. Grew up in Utah, but we met in California. All right. Um, and we've been blessed with six beautiful kids. And um, so I guess first and foremost, what I don't have is um, I'm a husband and a dad. Uh, so having my wife and the kids is no matter how bad your day has been, uh, being able to come home and see them, uh, it's always a an easy pick-me-up. So I didn't really get six.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 23:34

And uh you only have one daughter, right? And all boys. Oh my goodness. That's a long voice. Yeah, yeah.

Detective Sam Shipley 23:40

Well, so there's a caveat to this. So we have six, we've lost three in infancy.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 23:44

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Detective Sam Shipley 23:45

So um very excited to get to meet them again. But so our oldest is 15. Uh Bentley, and then uh Brady and Manning are twins. Um Brady was one we lost. And then Brigham would be 10. Millie is seven, and then we just recently lost a daughter, Winnie. Um so that's been, you know, it's the hardest thing ever, but um, you know, obviously grateful that that we get to have him and we'll get to see him again. So having a daughter has been awesome. Um I never knew how much I'd love having a because our first four were boys, and I I never imagined how much I could love having a daughter. And you know, the dresses and the bows and stuff like that. And she's adorable. How old are your daughter?

Officer Sam Rippamonti 24:39

She's seven. I just bought a dress for my 17-year-old daughter's prom. So I'm gonna ask you again when she gets a little older. But I get it now.

Detective Sam Shipley 24:47

My wife's like, you can tell her no sometimes, right? And I'm like, I no, I can't, but I get it now too, is um, you know, sometimes I'll I'll say stuff in my boys, but well, how come Millie gets to? I'm like, because she's a girl, you don't understand that now, but you will. Uh but yeah, she's awesome. And then our oldest, we just started doing a driving practice, which that's like one of the most terrifying things ever. Yeah.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 25:11

Are you teaching at home?

Detective Sam Shipley 25:13

Or uh no, I'm sitting in the passenger seat holding myself together. Um that's been a whole new experience.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 25:21

So this is your your oldest son, 15. Does this do you does it feel like it? Do you feel like his depth perception is off?

Detective Sam Shipley 25:28

Maybe, or those curves have come out of nowhere because we've we've sideswiped a few of them.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 25:32

So yeah. Well, no one through this for the first time with my, who's now he's gonna be 20 in a week. And we'd I'd be in the pastor's seat, and I'd be like, hey, you're turning right up here. Hey, you're turning right up here. Like, why aren't you breaking? Then he would start to break at the last second. It's not as I'm like, you're breaking and oh my goodness. I was like, I think I told my wife, I said, I think he's broken.

Detective Sam Shipley 25:57

I think his debt perception is all true. The same is watching him do it, you forget how complex driving actually is, right? Because I'll tell him, like, hey, we're gonna turn right up here, and then we're gonna go down here and we're gonna make another ride. And it's as we're coming up, it's like check your blind spot, signal, yeah. You don't really know it's a lot going on because you're so used to it, but yeah, it's been uh it's fun, and it's like anything else watching your kids grow is it is I one, I hate that they're growing up, um, but it's also cool to see them as they grow mature just getting to do new things in life, and yeah, so absolutely, you know, we you make the jokes about your daughter.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 26:37

So my my daughter, me and her, we can be oil and water. Like we my wife always says it, y'all are y'all are polar opposite, y'all are we're exactly the same, it's probably what it boils down to. So we we fight, we get mad at each other, and she's 17 and knows everything. Of course, and uh like the last night she tells us, she said, Hey, she's tracks her main sport is her sport. She said, Hey, our track fundraiser tomorrow. And I tell my wife after she's not in the room, I was like, I'm not donating this year, like that. And she goes, But don't tell her. She goes, Okay. Well, then this morning a group text comes out to me and my wife from my daughter, it's the link to donate. And next thing you know, I donate and I let her know, hey, I just donated. I get a text from my wife, sucker. I was like, Yep, that's me. I've heard that talk a big game, and then here she gets me every time. It's different, it's different.

Detective Sam Shipley 27:33

That's all I can say is um even the way they act around her is they give her a lot more grace than they do each other. You know, sometimes with boys, it's like, did you guys wake up this morning with the goal of like, how can I piss my brother off? You know, it's like, what can I do today? But yeah, that she's been such a blessing to us. And um like I said, they my wife and kids, that that's a bright spot to come home to every day.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 27:58

Yeah, do they play sports?

Detective Sam Shipley 28:00

Heartbreakingly for me, no, none of them uh they played a little bit, but I remember asking one of my sons manning, I'm like, son, like, don't you want to be a great athlete? And he's like, No. And I was like, because I always had this vision that they'd be begging me to go, you know, throw the football or whatever. Um, but they didn't. But my biggest thing has always been with them is I want you to be happy, man. Like uh do what makes you happy, and whatever that is, I'll be there, I'll be in the stand supporting you, right? I might not know much about it, um, but I'll be there for you know, one of my kids wanted to to do band. I I played the recorder, I think that was like the first grade or whatever. You know, but I said, if you want to do it, like and it makes you happy, I'll be at every you know, or every concert or whatever it is. So yeah, heartbreakingly, none of them love sports, but uh they definitely have their activities that they love. Yeah, yeah.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 28:56

My daughter did the competition cheer for a while. That stuff's intense. It was it was I was kind of I would scared going to some of those meets, like those moms, and this is no knock on me, but that's serious stuff. There was time she had flu, and they're like, We expect her to be here, she needs to wear a mask and at least watch. And I'm like, She's at home with the flu. I don't think you heard me.

Detective Sam Shipley 29:18

Well, that's my wife. My wife used to do it too, and she would tell me some of this stuff, and I'm like, You mean at like 12 years old? That's what they're doing, and she's like, Yeah, it's no joke.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 29:27

Then we we transitioned out of that and we got into theater. So that I mean, totally shifted gears. So we did the theater thing for a while, so that was kind of it was interesting.

Detective Sam Shipley 29:37

It's so interesting to see you know, my wife and I always joke, I'm like, man, it's the same ingredients that went into each of them and just how different they are, yeah, you know, and their passions and stuff like that. Uh for things that they love. I'm like, I would have never guessed in a million years that you know that's something you wanted to do. But they're all about it.

Family Life Grief And Growing Kids

Officer Sam Rippamonti 29:56

So is there anything new to the department or to your unit?

Detective Sam Shipley 30:00

Yep. Currently, right now we're on PD is kind of undergoing a rebranding as far as uh the attire that we wear, like this shirt and some other apparel that we wear. And it's been really cool because not only is it making everything uniform amongst everyone, but it shows a lot of pride in what we're doing. And everyone loves to be able to wear stuff that represents you know their their family pretty much. And so that's been really cool. We didn't have that a lot of mobile agency, so I like wearing Allen Police stuff, and I like people to know Yeah.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 30:38

I mean, we get fitness shirts now for annual fitness tests we do. That's stuff that we didn't have in the past. And the guy who's over those, he they put a lot of pride in you know, designing these shirts.

Detective Sam Shipley 30:48

And everyone's really, really enjoyed that change, and I think it just kind of magnifies the pride that we have in Allen and with our department.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 30:56

So right. And with the new rebranding, we're also doing new squad cars. So I'm excited for that to roll out. Kind of exciting. There's been a lot of work between uh, you know, amongst all of our command staff and city, you know, staff going back and forth. And we hope the city, you know, the public likes it. I think they're gonna look really sharp.

Speaker 3 31:18

Yeah.

Detective Sam Shipley 31:18

Well, and I like that because, you know, whether it's apparel or you know, our vehicles and stuff like that, we want it to be a positive rep representation of the city and reflection on them and to take pride in like, man, our officers they look sharp. Our department, you know, is top notch, and you know, everything we do is you know, we try to be the best at it. And I think that's something they can take a lot of pride in, and that a lot of people here take a lot of pride in.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 31:40

So right. Yeah, so the way the way the polo thing kind of shook out, we we played it right. We gave uh you know, Detective Cambiano one of the shirts. We're like, hey, start wearing this to work. And next thing you know, I'm getting emails and text like, hey, where's when where can I get my polo?

Speaker 3 31:58

Everybody starts asking.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 32:00

So we kind of just gradually introduced the polos and people were wanted. So then when they got when the green light went up, I was emails just started flying in.

Detective Sam Shipley 32:08

Hey, order me one of these, two of these. Yeah, dude. Even the beanie is like, I got my as soon as Melissa sent that email out, I was all about it. Yeah, right.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 32:15

Cause and we got hats now. So we have the caps that have that same same logo on there that and we have a version that's available to to our citizens, and that's you know, very similar logo, just says Allen instead of police on top. Looks pretty sharp. So if you're interested, let us know.

Detective Sam Shipley 32:34

Yeah, and I'd like that people can see that. Like, I like that people when they went from Allen or they see representatives of the police department, it's like there's a lot of pride in that, right? Um, I was at uh a tactical games competition this last weekend, and somebody saw my Allen PD stuff, and they're like, Oh, you work in Allen? And we started talking. I said, Man, we're down here by you know Burnett, Texas, and you're right, you're recognizing Allen.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 32:55

Yeah, that's that is pretty neat. It has been awesome to see, like uh, you know, since Chief Dia has come on board here. He has such a following. He really does. Funny story is my my oldest son came in and worked with our narcotics unit one summer, helping him out on some stuff, and he got you know, Chief Dye doing what Chief Dye does. He went over and introduced himself and talked to him and had a conversation. And my son was like, Dad, he could be the president. He is politician, he still calls him that, he still talks about it. He's like, How's the old president doing?

Detective Sam Shipley 33:31

I think it's so funny though, he does have that larger-than-life personality, but in your interactions with him is very down-to-earth dude and very sincere in what he does, right? Yeah, even recently, obviously, with us um losing our youngest daughter, you know, he would text me every day and check on me, but then also it's stopping, how's your wife doing? Things like that. And I know that he's got more than his fair share of things that are that he's got going on in his life, and so you see the very sincere side that, and that's what makes it easy to work, right? Is when you know your chief cares about more than just you as an officer, right? They care about your well-being.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 34:07

So, yeah, he's always looking out for all his troops, so he really does. He really does. And he's not gonna ask us to do anything that he wouldn't do right next to us, like our annual PT test. He's a very lead-by-example guy. Yeah.

Detective Sam Shipley 34:20

Yeah. It's been a huge blessing to be able to work here. Awesome.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 34:24

Is he part of the reason why you came here?

Detective Sam Shipley 34:27

He's a very, very big part of why I came here. So I was at the Children's Advocacy Center with a couple of the island guys, and I'd had a chance to, like I said, train with some of your SWAT team. And so I knew the guys and and I liked you know the people that I met from the department. But then when I was over there, and I started hearing about some of the things he was doing and the values and things that he was kind of instilling. I was kind of drooling, like, I I want to go find him out more about this. And you know, like I'd mentioned earlier, when I had my interview with him, you know, my jaw like dropped. I was like, you know, where has this been my whole career? Um you know, just again, the his vision of what he sees the department being and the values and kind of the process to get there. Uh that was something that I I've kind of fell in love with right on the spot. So so we kind of addressed it already.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 35:25

But if you could tell the community one thing, what would that be?

Detective Sam Shipley 35:29

Don't hesitate to call us. We are here to help. Um nothing's too small. That would be my biggest thing. Because and I hope they feel, and I and I try to tell them is we want you to feel safe. Like we want you to know that like if I need Alan PD, they will be there. Um, no matter what I need them for. And so give us that opportunity, right? Because I know a lot of people out here is man, we want our citizens to feel safe. We want them to know is like, man, if something happens in Allen or if I need help, an officer will be there to help me. Hopefully it continues.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 36:04

Well, thank you for coming on. Yeah, we really appreciate you taking time. I know you're busy. Yeah.

Detective Sam Shipley 36:09

And uh finding Berks and and shoes. But no, thank you for having me.

Officer Sam Rippamonti 36:17

If you'd like to learn more about the Allen Police Department or upcoming events, check us out on our website, Allenpolice.org. And make sure to like and subscribe. And if you have any comments, leave them down below. See you next time. See you next time.