April 25, 2025 • 37 mins
Officer Brandon Villareal shares his journey from professional football player with the New Orleans Saints to Allen PD's Rookie of the Year. His unexpected career path demonstrates how life's detours can lead to finding deeper purpose in serving the community where you grew up.
• Surprising candor from suspects, including a memorable traffic stop turning into a major drug bust
• Transitioning from an NFL career to teaching and coaching for 12 years
• Making the decision to join law enforcement at age 40 following the Allen mall shooting tragedy
• Balancing being a police officer with watching his sons play football for Allen High School
• Advice for drivers: always pull over to a safe location when stopped by police
If you'd like to know more about upcoming events, go to our website, allenpolicedot.org. Make sure to like and subscribe, and leave questions in the comments below.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:02):
Welcome back to another episode of Allen
Police.
Behind the Badge, we're yourhosts, officer Sam Ripamani and
Alexis Birmingham.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (00:09):
And today our special guest is
Officer Brandon Villareal.
Thank you for joining us.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (00:13):
Not a problem, hey Brandon.
So how?
long have you been with Allennow?
Just a little over a year and ahalf.
All right, I was hired in.
October of 23.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:22):
And you're currently in patrol.
I am so any interesting storiesyou can share from your patrol
over the last year and a half.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (00:29):
Yeah , sure it actually happened to
be on training.
That's the most recent one Ican think of.
That's an interesting storybecause it never ceases to amaze
me how honest people will be.
It took me completely bysurprise how honest people will
be.
It took me completely bysurprise.
I went through phase two oftraining with Officer Bly and
Officer Garcia Lugardo Garcia,who was they're both amazing,
(00:51):
Learned a lot from both of them,and I heard a lot about Officer
Bly being one of those guysthat just knows how to find
things If things just find him,you know and it just never
happened and I kept giving him ahard time Like man, when are we
gonna find something he's likeI?
don't know, maybe you justcanceled these things out, and
so he happened to be on vacationthe last day that I was on
training.
(01:11):
So I went with Corporal Murrayat the time who's you know now
in a different division, and Inever really got up on the
highway very much and he's like,hey, why don't we take a trip
up and down the highway?
Once I was was like sure, whynot?
And so we got on just at Legacy, starting to head northbound.
It got a little slow.
Traffic was about 50 miles anhour, some people kind of
(01:32):
slowing things down and someonecomes barreling past us.
Wasn't speeding per se, justunsafe for the conditions.
So I kind of sped up a littlebit and he's like I don't know
what that person's doing.
I was sped up a little bit andhe's like I don't know what that
person's doing.
It's like I don't know.
She went from the left lane allthe way to the right, all across
all lanes, without signal.
I was like, all right, I'mgonna stop her.
So I pulled her over, rolledthe window down and I was like
(01:54):
whoa smelled very heavily ofmarijuana and I was like, okay,
hey, where are you heading today?
She's like, oh, just going tosee some friends.
Okay, I'm going to get anotherunit out here.
So they sent another unit and Ihave her step out of the car
and I told her the reason forthe stop but I was like, hey, I
could smell marijuana in the car.
When was the last time therewas any marijuana in there?
(02:17):
She goes probably earlier today.
Oh, okay, okay, was it yours?
Um, was it yours?
She's like, yeah, I have, youknow, some conditions that I
need it for.
I said, okay, am I going tofind anything more than maybe
just that little bit?
Or she goes, uh, just mydeliveries.
And I was like, oh, so, likeyour your uber deliveries or
something.
She goes, no, my weeddeliveries.
I was like, okay, well, whydon't you go ahead and turn
(02:39):
around, put your hands behindyour back?
Um, you're detained at themoment.
And so I sat in the car and,sure enough, they had.
She had a big bag that had awhole bunch of stuff in there
that was labeled for each of thecities she was going to.
Um had some vape pens and somethc wax and, um, don't worry, I
clarified, she is not a residentof allen she was passing
(03:01):
through.
um, but it just it never ceasesto amaze me how, how honest
people are with you, and thatkind of took me by surprise and
I kind of laughed at the moment.
But then I looked back and Iwas like man, that's a pretty
hefty deal that she had goingthere.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (03:14):
Yeah, you know, I always tell my kids
if they get pulled over behonest.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (03:17):
But I don't think honesty is getting
you out of that.
She took honesty to an entirelynew level, that's for sure,
entirely new level, that's forsure.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (03:22):
Yeah, that was not, I mean honesty's
not helping you on that one.
That's awesome.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (03:26):
So were you always an officer, or
what did you do prior?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (03:30):
This is actually a third career for
me.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (03:32):
Okay .
Officer Brandon Villarreal (03:33):
You know, I'm actually originally
from Allen.
We moved here when I was reallyyoung, back in 94.
Went through Allen High School,went on and played football at
Purdue University, got asociology degree, which kind of
falls in line with some of thestuff that we do in this
profession.
But ideally, I was thinking I'mI'm majoring in football.
You know, I wanted to go be afootball player.
(03:54):
Yeah, um, still kept goodgrades but signed a uh, a free
agent deal with new orleans, uh,with the saints, right after
college, spent about 18 monthswith them and then kind of did
that.
Hey, we don't really need youanymore, so we're gonna need the
playbook, um, so, turning theplaybook, came back home, had
(04:15):
our first kid, um, and worked acorporate job, which I don't
really consider my second career.
It was kind of like a, astepping stone to the next part.
Um, and I realized that therehad to be some sort of
interaction with people otherthan sitting in an office on a
phone doing sales.
That just wasn't for me, so Igot into coaching and teaching.
That was my second career, so Istarted at lovejoy high school.
(04:38):
Um over there in lucas was therefor six years, left there and
went to mckinney north highschool as a defense coordinator
for six years, had a chance toget out of teaching and coaching
.
Not because I wanted to, but Ihad an opportunity to work from
home, see my kids more, makesome good money and then again I
was like my gosh, I, I can't, Ican't do this anymore I can't
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (05:00):
do it.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (05:01):
I actually intended on running for
school board, actually for thecity of Allen, allen ISD, and
that didn't work out.
But the day of the electionhappened to be May 6, 2023,
which is a very sad day in thecity of Allen and I thought to
myself I can find a way to helpserve this community better than
(05:22):
just sitting on a school board.
And so, uh, rip, you know myfather-in-law, I called him.
He used to be an officer inthis department for 36 years and
I said do you think this issomething I could do?
I mean, I'm 40 years old, hegoes, absolutely he goes.
You need to start thatapplication process now.
And so I did, and was contactedby um investigator Gilmore and
(05:46):
everybody there, and here we are, a year and a half later.
It's just I've always had thisknack of wanting to serve and
protect people.
On the fact that it's myhometown something I'm very well
invested in and deep-rooted inwas a no-brainer so backtracking
a little bit on your story.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:02):
So with when, the football, and that
fast.
It's fascinating to me becauseas a kid I'm like I'm going to
play in the NFL one day.
I had zero chance of playing incollege let alone the NFL.
But I think that happens tomore often than not where
they're like okay, your servicesaren't needed anymore, like you
(06:22):
were saying, so it's something.
I guess it's a business.
It is, you hear that a lot Likethis is a business that's cut
through.
I mean we see that in Dallasright now with the Mavericks.
Officer Brandon Villarre (06:34):
That's going to go down as one of the
worst trades of all time.
Officer Sam Rippamon (06:36):
Absolutely , but that's just my opinion,
sure.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (06:46):
So I'm sure that was a I mean
realizing all right football'sover.
It hit me worse than I thoughtit would.
To be honest with you, you knowyou go through your entire life
doing something you love,thinking this is going to be
what I do for the rest of mylife, and knowing that at some
point in time either I was goingto choose or somebody else was
going to choose for that to bemy time to be done and I had to
have my next step.
But nobody thinks that you'regoing to get that taken away
(07:08):
from you before you're ready,you know so I thought I'm going
to have this long, illustriouscareer, be able to retire with
millions and be able to justlive off of those millions.
Well, that didn't happen.
You know, you get 18 months inand they're like, hey, so about
that playbook?
Like what are you talking about?
So when, initially, I sat downin front of Sean Payton I said,
(07:32):
is there anything I can do?
I mean, you want me to go be along snapper, because I did that
in college too.
Didn't play just D-line, andhe's like it's a little early in
the season for us to figurethat part out.
So we'll have to take a coupleof weeks and figure out if if we
need to make any moreadjustments.
I was like, well, look, I'm acheaper option.
You know your long snappers, a12 year vet, he's making
(07:52):
$900,000.
You can pay me 300 grand youknow let's do this and he's like
I, so people ask me if I liketo watch shows like what's it on
HBO?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:06):
Hard Knocks Hard.
Officer Brandon Villarre (08:06):
Knocks .
I'm like that's like PTSD forme.
Yeah, because I see those guyswalking through the locker room
and they're like bring yourplaybook.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:13):
I'm like ooh, oh man, you remember that
day vividly.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (08:15):
I feel that pain for those guys.
So yeah, it was a little bitunnerving, to say the least, but
I look back on it.
It made me better for who I amnow.
You had your college yeahabsolutely, and, to Sean
Payton's credit, after leavingthere he treated everybody who
(08:37):
left the organization likeroyalty.
So if we wanted to go back downthere, we were always welcome
to go.
Be with the team, be at thelocker room.
When they came here to Dallas Iwould always take my kids to go
to the team hotel, hang outwith the players while we talk
with them, go to the games onSundays and all that stuff
Awesome.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:52):
So you still have friends that you
played with in the league today.
Yeah, absolutely so.
You're in touch with some ofthem.
Outreach Coordinator Ale (08:57):
Mm-hmm .
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:58):
So you went into coaching.
Yeah, your way to make it wholelike kind of you know I'm done
with football but now I canstill be part of football, yeah,
it was um.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (09:07):
I didn't know that initially that
you had to be a certifiedteacher in the state of texas as
a public, as a public coach,public school coach.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:16):
Yeah, I just thought they always did
teach, because I just happenedto be there, so somewhere right,
right, yeah, so I got into it,wanting to become a coach, and I
was like, well, I've got tobecome a teacher.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (09:27):
So I went through that, that process
, and um, the alternativecertification yes, I went
through an alternativecertification program and I
learned to love teaching morethan I ever thought I would yeah
um, what subject?
I was a business teacher, okay,so thankfully I didn't have to
worry about standardized testingum I could just have the kids
enjoy the class.
(09:47):
Do test grades by, you know,doing um group work or projects
projects and things of thatnature, and the parents loved it
too, because I didn't send anyhomework home yeah, they're like
they already have enoughhomework.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:58):
I'm sure the kids really.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (09:59):
Oh, they love that too um, but I
learned to love that because inorder to be a great coach, you
have to be a great teacher tosome degree, and it's not always
about the curriculum, it'sabout life lessons, it's about
relating with one another andmaking them better people, and I
think that's what really droveme to want to go back every
single day and love what I do,which I think helped prepare me
for what I'm doing now beingable to just connect with people
(10:22):
.
That was a huge deal doing nowbeing able to just connect with
people.
Yeah, um, that was a huge deal.
And if, in my opinion, if youcan connect with teenagers well
enough, I mean you can reallyconnect with just about anybody,
because they're they're toughto get along with sometimes.
All right, I have.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:33):
I have three of those at home.
It's tough day to day dependingon, yes, especially with my
middle one.
She's.
It's my daughter.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (10:42):
Yeah , but I love the waters,
sometimes just to see yeah, Iloved it.
I enjoyed it.
Um, I felt like it was my wayto give back to kids the same
things that were given to me asfar as my knowledge of the game,
with the coaching side of itand but, yeah, I loved it.
It was something that I wish Iwould still do from time to time
to go talk football, but thegood Lord has me where I need to
(11:04):
be right now.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (11:05):
This is where I want to be, so you
don't coach on your free timeanymore.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (11:08):
I do actually some individual
sessions with D-line kids, some8th graders, 9th graders, some
high school kids, mostly throughAllen.
I've got a couple kids fromProsper and McKinney that'll
come out to Allen.
We'll do a one-hour sessionjust teach them some football
stuff.
My biggest thing is I just wantthem to ask questions.
(11:29):
Ask me a football question.
I don't care if it has anythingto do with that specific
position.
I'll teach you that stuff.
If you want to know why did theChiefs call this play on third
and four, if I've got a goodanswer I'll tell you.
If I don't, then I'll find itfor you.
But I want those kids to lovethe game and want to be more
invested in it, have a reason towant to go play.
So yeah, I do a little bit ofcoaching on the side, but it's
(11:52):
definitely not putting in 90hours a week like I used to by
any stretch.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (11:58):
What do?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (11:58):
you do for the department.
Now you're a patrol officer.
So what's a day of a patrolofficer?
Or a night, sure?
So I'm working nights right now.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (12:03):
Yeah I'm 6 pm to 6 am.
Um, I'm one of those peoplethat I'm very, very early, so I,
if I'm not on shift till six,I'm usually at the station by 4
45 people like what are you,what are you doing?
Here.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (12:16):
This is just how I've always been
game planning.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (12:18):
Yes, that's exactly what it is.
When I was in, when I coaching,I was there at least an hour
before the kids were Funny storyactually, now that I think
about this, the reason why myparents always taught me to be
very punctual.
My grandfather was a naval.
He was a ranked officer in theNavy, oh wow and was very big on
(12:39):
punctuality and English.
Those were the two things.
Proper grammar um freshman yearof college I was red shirting.
Now I'll keep this short.
My father-in-law and his familycame to watch the game that
weekend.
Well, on sunday we had to get alift in before we went to do
anything and then we had to comeback at 2.30 for team practice.
(13:02):
Got my lift done at 5 o'clockin the morning and Mike says we
want to go to Chicago.
I'm like that's two hours away.
He's like it's fine.
I was like we've got to be backhere no later than 2 o'clock
because I've got a team meetingat 2.30.
Got it, we're standing in themiddle of Chicago at 12.30.
(13:24):
And I was like we got to go.
He's like, oh crap, we got togo.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:29):
Oh my goodness, Totally my coach.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (13:32):
So, needless to say, we get all the
way back and I walk into theteam meeting 10 seconds late and
my coach is like get out of mymeeting and so.
So I went through practice andthen the next three days I had
to condition because I was lateto a meeting 10 seconds, 10
seconds late.
So, um, I carried that for therest of my career and then on
(13:55):
into what I do.
People like I'll be 15, 30minutes early.
I'm at least an early.
So to get back to what my patrolday is like, I'm usually at the
station about an hour early,get prepped, get my car ready to
go, any extra gear that I needcheck to make sure you know,
press, check my firearm, makesure everything's good to go
there.
If something needs to be oiled,go to the armory, oil my gun
(14:15):
down.
If I need to Go to briefing andthen hit the street.
Um, if there's any specificthings we need to look at, you
know, when we get into briefing,if there's been a string of
bmvs burglars, motor vehicles,if there's been retail thefts,
we'll add some extra patrolaround those specific areas and
just ensure that we're keeping abetter eye on those things.
(14:37):
But from there it's just tryingto do our best to make sure
that we're making good trafficstops, keeping the streets safe,
uh, from a traffic standpoint,and then the biggest thing for
me is being good responders tothe calls for service that we
have.
In my opinion, that's, that'sthe first and foremost thing
that we need to do.
Um, when the public needs ourhelp, we need to be there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (14:59):
Yeah, so I'll get a lot of calls at
night.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (15:02):
Yeah , there's more.
It depends.
It's crazy because it dependson the day.
You would think that Friday andSaturday nights are always
going to be the highest callvolume nights.
Sometimes they're dead,sometimes it's a Wednesday night
just randomly, all of a sudden,all these things pop up and
it's call to call and next thing, you know know, it's two
o'clock in the morning, likewhat the heck just happened in
my night like I had no idea thatthis was going to happen, but
(15:24):
there's quite a few calls, morethan I, more than I anticipated
to be happening between midnightand three o'clock in the
morning on a wednesday orthursday.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (15:31):
Yeah, um , but yeah, there's a good
amount of calls I used to jokethat allen was a very fair
weather community, like whenit's cold outside now and at
nighttime oh yeah it's, you seerabbits everywhere.
But you don't see people verymuch no like you can drive down
city streets it seems like formiles and not see a single car.
Because it's cold outside,people are locked up yeah and
(15:54):
you'll see coyotes too, coyotesand rabbits we used to joke
about that, so it's good to seeit hadn't changed a lot.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (16:00):
No, not much.
It's pretty much the same.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:03):
And this year at the awards banquet.
I think somebody got somehardware there, oh boy.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (16:09):
Yeah , he did.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:11):
Rookie of the year.
Yeah yeah, that's a pretty bigone, man.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus B (16:14):
I didn't think you were going to
bring that up so I appreciatethat we're going to embarrass
you a little bit.
We don't want to embarrass youa little bit.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:20):
That's pretty awesome, though, because
we've been hiring a lot ofofficers in Allen, and so it's
not like it's just one or two ofyou to choose from to win that
award, and we got someexceptional officers.
Our hiring standards in Allenare pretty high.
Officer Brandon Villarr (16:36):
They're very high.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:40):
And the fact that you came in and won
that.
Officer Brandon Villarre (16:41):
that's amazing.
I was shocked, to be honestwith you, with the amount of
guys that we have and girls.
Either way, there's a lot ofgreat officers in our department
, absolutely.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:51):
Very humbled by it.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (16:53):
Well , thank you Very, very humbled
by it.
I kind of looked at it as, yeah, rookie of the year means you
haven't had a whole lot ofexperience experience so they're
basing it off of everythingyou've done to that point.
But I look at some of the guysthat I've been through the
academy with, been on shift with, and I'm like how in the world
did that guy not get it?
You know, because I've alwaysbeen one of those people to try
(17:16):
to build others up and not putmyself in front, if that makes
sense.
It actually took my wife untilabout year eight or nine, when I
was coaching, for her to saywould you just step up and tell
people you want to be a headcoach now, instead of trying to
help other people become headcoaches?
And I was like what do you mean?
She's like you're always tryingto help others, why don't you
(17:36):
do it for yourself?
Now?
I was like it's not about me,it's about the whole team and,
as cliche as it may sound,that's just how I've always team
over me, correct, and so Icouldn't care less about a title
, an award, but at the same timeI'm humbled by it.
I'm thankful that thedepartment and and supervisors
(17:57):
and those that I work with, feltthat I was worthy of that.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:01):
People notice.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (18:03):
It's an awesome deal.
I think I've been cursed by itsince, though.
Since then, all the fun callsI'm usually dealing with those
are yours now no.
I've been dealing with barkingdogs when all the fun stuff's
going on, or a 911 hang-up.
That's a good problem.
Or a Norris complaint and I'mlike oh, that was man.
I wish I could have been a partof that one over there.
(18:25):
So it's kind of an ongoing jokeright now.
That's funny.
So if a pursuit kicks off,where's Villarreal?
He's probably picking up antson the side of the road, or
something like that.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (18:35):
Is there anything new in your unit
?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (18:41):
Or how's drive to thrive affecting
what you guys are doing on aday-to-day base.
Sure, um, you know, I think thedrive to thrive um initiative
has been good, especially fordays.
I think people are definitelytaking that into consideration.
We don't have quite the volumeof cars on the road at nighttime
, but I am seeing a lot betterdriving.
To be honest with you, um, andthat includes criminals, I don't
know.
I guess the criminals know thatwe're out quite a bit.
(19:03):
They know that we like topatrol.
Chief Dye is very, very high ontraffic stops and making sure
that we're visible and I thinkthat everybody sees that and I
think it's also helping peopledrive a lot better.
So that initiative has beenawesome.
Doesn't change the fact thatpeople still don't get their
registrations updated.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (19:21):
So get your registrations updated,
people yep um as far as new Idon't really know there's
anything new right now.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (19:29):
I know we're supposed to be
hopefully getting some new umcomputers in the cars.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (19:34):
I know those have been out they've been
doing that this week, so you'llprobably have a new one today
when you that'll be awesome.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (19:38):
So that's about the newest I can
say, and I I know that we have acouple of guys that just got
out of either training orlateral officers, so we're still
kind of gelling as a unit.
I'm on the B2 shift.
It's a great group of guys,very high active group or
proactivity wise.
They're a very, very good groupof guys.
Um, and even though I'm one ofthe newer to the profession, I'm
(20:02):
also one of the older on theshift too.
Um, because I'll be 42 here ina couple months and I look at
them like you guys are babies,you know they're like shut up,
grandpa, hey, I feel that I feelthe same.
You know I'll be 44 this year,yeah so, um, as far as what's
new, I don't know a whole lot,except for maybe the computers
(20:24):
right now, but I just know thatwhat we're seeing out there from
people driving-wise it'sgetting better, and I'm hoping
that some fun stuff will starttaking place here in the next
couple weeks as well.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:36):
We're good with quiet too though, no
100% we like quiet too.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (20:40):
We did get some promotions, though
, sergeant, and you guys gotLieutenant Frank Page.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (20:45):
Yeah , so Lieutenant Page is on the
one side of the week, ourlieutenant is Lieutenant Maness
on ours, but Sergeant Williamswent to B1 as well, which he
happened to be one of my um ftosduring training was he, so that
was really nice man he's.
He's a great officer.
(21:05):
He's got a great story too.
He'd be another person, be agreat one oh, he's on for this
podcast.
He doesn't know it yet, but he'son the list.
See, I'm already thinking likeyou guys are.
He's, he's a good one to get,but, um, yeah, and then, uh, you
know, serge Sergeant Centenoover on A2.
There's been a lot of greatpromotions.
I think they fit in very well.
(21:26):
There hasn't been a singleshift that I've seen that I've
worked on, either duringtraining or that I'm currently
on, where I don't see some sortof gelling going on.
There's no dissension betweenpeople.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (21:39):
I can sense that yeah around the
station, being around all theofficers and guys.
That feel like everybody's kindof bonding, that we really are.
It really is a family, brother,sisterhood is really growing
100, which is great to see.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (21:56):
We absolutely enjoy the group of
people that we work with, andover the course of training and
through now, I was able to gothrough every different shift
and I didn't feel at any giventime like I wasn't a part of
that shift the first day I wason it and when I left that I
couldn't come back to that group.
So it's a really great group ofpatrol officers that we have.
(22:19):
And then, really across theentire department, there isn't
anybody that you can't walkthrough the hallways and doesn't
say hello or make you feel likeyou've known them for a long
time.
But some of them.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (22:29):
I have, so I've got to pick on your
father-in-law just a little bit.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus B (22:35):
I hope he's watching this.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (22:36):
If he watches or listens to this, he's
going to have some words to sayto me.
Next time I see him, sure, lovehim to death.
I've been here 18 years andI've known him since the
beginning and he knew my in-lawsfrom my fallen old retired
state trooper.
So they've known each other foryears.
(22:56):
So Mike's always been reallygood to me.
We've played golf together,we've laughed, we've yelled at
each other for years.
So mike, mike's always beenreally good to me.
We've played golf together we'veyou know we've laughed, we've
yelled at each other like thewhole.
You know he talks loud anywaysure just a loud guy.
But that guy is a salesman.
He's the only man I know thatcould go get dispatched to a
rollover accident and walk awaythere without any paperwork.
(23:20):
And I don't you laugh, both ofy'all, I am not making this up.
He could go to a call wheresomebody gets stabbed and he's
going to somehow figure out howto not do paperwork.
He was the king of talking hisway out of a report and it
actually took on a name.
(23:41):
Have you heard the name?
such in it, such in it I don'tknow if it's alive and well
anymore.
I think.
I think we're in a differentage now there's.
Officer Brandon Villarr (23:49):
There's still a good amount of people
who know that that term, thatterm, we used to laugh about it
like, oh, I'm gonna go such this.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (23:55):
I mean, we were just joking, sure, but
we would always say and he'd belike oh, whatever, and he'd get
mad and yell at us, yeah yeah,um, I was fully aware of that.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (24:04):
Um, I don't know that that that
mentality lives so much, butit's, it's.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:09):
It's in the lore of alan pd, for sure, I
think that's the old days forsure absolutely, but it
absolutely we've teased himabout that for years and I'm
gonna have to make sure to saysomething to him again.
Oh yeah, he'll watch this andhe'll he'll probably text me and
I'm gonna have to make sure tosay something to him again.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (24:21):
Oh yeah, he'll watch this and he'll
he'll probably text me well,I'm sure that mayor brooks will
too, because I know that mayorbrooks knows about it too.
Oh, that's funny.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:29):
He'll tell me I owe him a round of
golf.
Yep, you know like that's whathe tells me every time I see him
.
So, and you might be able tobeat him I don't know why you
think he plays enough.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (24:39):
But every time I see him he's like
oh no, I shot like 88, 89.
I'm like, how are you notshooting in the low 70s by now?
He's like I don't know, I'vegot to figure something else out
, because he's all gas, he'sjust always wound up All gas, no
brakes.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:55):
Man, he's just going.
Yeah, I Years ago last time weplayed and he was actually.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (24:58):
He's a good golfer, he can hold his
own.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:00):
He is.
He's a good golfer.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (25:01):
And he's talking the whole time.
Oh yeah, I'm like this guy andyou better hurry.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:05):
Oh, like he's not joking, no, he doesn't
want to wait on anybody he'sready to go.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (25:15):
It doesn't matter if you're not
moving at Mike's such pace.
You're not moving fast enough,that's awesome.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:24):
So goals with Allen Police Department.
You want to promote what do?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (25:28):
you think that's on the shelf for
now.
I mean, I want to make sure toget a good enough amount of time
on patrol to really figure outwhat it is I want to do.
I thought initially coming intobeing an officer that a couple
years in maybe being an SROmight be a natural fit for me,
having been in schools for 12years.
I don't know, maybe it is,maybe it isn't.
(25:50):
I've toyed with the idea ofmaybe wanting to get into canine
.
I love the idea of being acanine officer and then maybe to
potentially promote or even gointo CID maybe later in the
career and work crimes againstpersons.
I've always loved the idea ofinvestigating things and solving
cases and things of that nature.
But in all honesty I don't knowwhat the full-on long-term goal
(26:11):
is, because I'm still gettingmy feet wet into patrol and I
love every second of it, and Idon't just say that because I'm
on this podcast or around peoplein the department.
I truly do enjoy what I'm doingevery single day.
It's a reason to get out of bedand go make a difference,
because although we get to takepeople to jail that do crimes
and that's a great part of ourjob a lot of it is just
(26:33):
connecting with the community.
There's, over the last howevermany years I think, there's been
kind of a 50-50 view of whatlaw enforcement is and sometimes
if you just show a little bitof grace and humility towards
people, they tend to change.
Like the second you stop.
They're like why am I beingpulled over?
(26:53):
And then, hey, man, justthought I'd let you know your
taillights out.
Oh, okay, when are you going toget that taken care of?
And just have a conversationwith people and then next time
you see them they don't havequite that same demeanor about
them.
So I enjoy that communityengagement, involvement and
really connecting people.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (27:12):
So I don't know.
Officer Brandon Villarrea (27:13):
We'll see Eventually.
I would love to promote, but Idon't know when that's going to
be.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (27:18):
If you go back in the schools, man,
they're going to have youhelping coach football in
uniform, then you'll be reallyout there no doubt, no doubt do
you have any collateral dutiesor any passion for anything
right now in the department?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (27:32):
you know, I'm actually working to
get into the drone unit.
Um, I've worked with dronesbefore.
I just don't have my fa license.
So working on the process ofdoing that, that's something
that I have a pretty biginterest in, and once I can get
myself figured out with thatside of things and helping out
with that, I'll see if there'ssome other things that kind of
(27:53):
catch my interest.
But for right now that'ssomething I love the idea of.
Yeah, maybe I'm not involved inthe pursuit because I wasn't
close enough, but I'm the onlydrone guy available and they
need someone in case there's afoot bail.
Well then I can go get involvedwith it.
So I love that opportunity topotentially be a part of that.
So that's one of those thingsthat I'm hoping over the next
couple weeks here we can getcertified and get started.
Outreach Coordinator Al (28:13):
There's a lot of use for the drones.
I mean not just you knowpursuits.
I mean any like child loss.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (28:20):
Oh yeah, I mean helping locate
suspects, helping locate missingpeople, runaways things of that
nature.
Um, I think it's a huge deal,Um, and to have that big eye
over the sky helping see thingsthat other people can't.
I would love to be a part ofthat, and that's why I'm going
through the process of it.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (28:35):
You can come out to our events and
show off the drones.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (28:37):
Kids love the drones.
No doubt they love seeing allthe technology that we have and
it's pretty interesting.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (28:43):
Even robotics.
That's pretty neat too, thelittle robot that we have.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (28:47):
So the drones are fascinating to me the
way they fly them indoors now.
So it's so much safer if wehave someone barricaded in a
house.
We don't send a person inanymore, or even a canine, for
that right that takes the riskof getting hurt.
We can fly those drones in andyou know, if a drone gets
knocked out of there, they'reall insured you know, nobody's
(29:08):
hurt, we'll send another one in.
Yeah, whatever we need to do andwhat you know one call that
comes to mind with the drone.
We had a uh, it was a robberysuspect and he fled into a
neighborhood.
A robbery didn't happen in ourcity, but he carried over into
Allen and he wrecked his car outand fled on foot.
We had a patrol officer thatgot a drone up out of their car,
(29:29):
got it up in the air right awayand they watched him.
He was going through backyardstrying to run and the drone
didn't go anywhere.
Outreach Coordinator Al (29:36):
They're so fast You're not going to
outrun it Faster than a dog.
The drone didn't go anywhere.
They're so fast.
You're not going to outrun itFaster than a dog, oh yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (29:40):
So that drone just hovered.
He's right here, crouched downunder these trees and these
bushes and they surrounded itand he finally peeked up over
the fence and I think it wasLieutenant Page standing there,
and that's who we wenteye-to-eye with he's like, oh
man, I messed up that.
Officer Brandon Villarre (29:56):
That's not the guy you want to be eye
to eye with.
He snatched him up real quick.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (30:00):
That one was done at that point and it's
such a valuable tool.
What you guys I mean, likeChief Dye says, y'all are the
hub of the department.
We're all just a spoke on thatwheel Patrol is what makes this
department go around, and weappreciate what y'all do Well
thank you.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (30:21):
We appreciate everything you guys
do as well out there at nighttime when we're home asleep it's
like you know, people losesight of that and forget about
that.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (30:28):
Uh, you know a lot of sacrifices made.
Now one more thing I want totalk to you about.
You have kids, right?
I do two boys I do have twoboys all right, is any one of
them playing football?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (30:40):
so my oldest is a uh, is a junior
right now on the allen varsityfootball team, um, and then my
youngest is a seventh grader inthe middle school program and
he's already a bigger than I amtaller than I am, for that
matter so they're, they'repretty athletic kids.
My oldest plays football, doesa little bit of wrestling, my
(31:01):
youngest is basketball, baseball, football all right.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (31:04):
So what's that like as dad now
watching your boy on fridaynight out there?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (31:10):
it's alan eagles.
Yeah, that's a big team, that'sa big stadium like spotlight
yeah, the uh, the soft side ofme says it warms my heart, you
know to seeing my son play.
You know my alma mater anddoing, in my opinion, better
things than I did when I was inhigh school and on a team that's
way more successful and has waymore notoriety than I ever had.
(31:30):
And then the other side of it.
I have to keep myself fromwanting to just unload on him
for things that he's not doingor doing, oh, things he could do
better, correct.
Then my coaching side comes out.
But I have to tell myself, nobe dad.
What positions he play.
He's an offensive lineman, sohe plays center.
Um, that's probably what he'sgoing to project at in college.
(31:51):
Um, or potentially guard.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (31:51):
Just kind of depends on where they
need him so you would have beenlining up across from him yes
tackle do you ever line up infront of him?
I still tell, tell him to thisday.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (32:00):
I don't care how in shape you are
and maybe how in shape I get tothe point when I'm not maybe
it's 100% between the ears I canstill whoop him every time and
I tell him I got that old manstrength.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (32:11):
Old man, strength and wisdom.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (32:13):
And I said there will never be a
time that your old man can'tbeat you.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (32:17):
Well, I think we should definitely make
this happen One day.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (32:21):
Get y'all in pads and let's, let's
do it I'll be good for one play,and then I'll be tapping out
yeah, we'll get that play onvideo.
Yes, that's the one but yeah,so it's it's.
It's pretty cool to watch himplay um, and then my young also
be coming up in a couple yearswhat positions he play.
He's a quarterback and I neverthought I'd be a quarterback dad
tackle those guys exactly, soit's a little weird for me.
(32:42):
Um, when he gets hit, I'm likeyeah, oh wait, I can't I can't
do that yeah um, but no, he's,he's enjoying that.
He really wants to be abasketball player.
Um, I kid you not.
When I watch him he reminds meof luca, the way he moves around
.
He's kind of got that, and thisis the way I talk about Luka.
(33:03):
He seems like that old man atthe local gym that just knows
how to play.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (33:08):
Yeah, you know, and he just sinks
every shot.
He's not super fast or anything.
How does he?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (33:12):
do that.
That's exactly what he lookslike, but he's incredibly
intelligent for the game ofbasketball.
He sees everything.
He sees passes and I'm likewhat are you?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (33:27):
oh, that was pretty cool so he's a very
good basketball player and he'sa pitcher in baseball.
He's totally different than you.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (33:32):
He's doing quite a few things, so
we're still trying to figure outwhat the route is, but I have
no intentions of stopping him onany of the three.
If he wants to play all threeof them through high school, I'm
all for that.
He needs to be a well-roundedathlete.
With my oldest being juniorgoing into senior, he's kind of
focused on football now.
Um, so we'll see.
He's got a couple scholarshipoffers from some smaller schools
(33:53):
.
He does want to play and springball is right in the mix right
now, so I'm sure some more willbe coming down the pipeline and
we'll see absolutely that'sexciting is if there's one thing
you can share with ourcommunity, what would it be?
when you get pulled over.
Find a safe place.
I can't tell you how many timeswe'll pull someone over and you
stop dead in the middle of theroad.
Um, that's a safety issue foreverybody, and I laugh when I
(34:16):
say it at first, becausesometimes you look back what
were they thinking?
But at the same time, if wepull you over, just find a safe
spot.
If you're worried that we'regoing to think you're evading or
you're taking off, we don'tthink that.
If you want to find a spotthat's more well lit, we greatly
appreciate that.
And don't stop in the middle ofa major roadway.
Find a side street.
(34:37):
Get off to the right side.
Find a parking lot.
Don't stop immediately in themiddle of the road.
That's a safety issues.
That would be the one thing Iwould tell everybody yeah, we've
had many close calls yes and Ithink some of them are.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (34:50):
Some of our units have been hit
because of sure it's.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (34:54):
It's a, it's a big time safety deal
and if that means you have todrive a half mile to somewhere,
you feel safe as long as you'renot speeding up and trying to
move evasively.
As long as you can find a safeplace, please do.
I would greatly appreciate itand other officers would greatly
appreciate that.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (35:11):
So I heard that we're getting
cowboy hats.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (35:13):
Yes Are you excited.
Highly excited about that.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (35:16):
Are you going to get fitted for one
?
Yes, I am or have you alreadybeen fitted?
I have already been fitted the.
Are you going to get fitted forone?
Yes, I am, or have you alreadybeen fitted?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (35:21):
I have already been fitted.
The first day they said wecould go in there, I was like I
will be in there as quickly as Ipossibly can.
Now I know we're supposed touse them in inclement weather.
If you're going to be outsidein the sun for extended periods
of time and working on nights, Imean I get that many
opportunities but you better,well believe I will have that
(35:47):
thing with me.
I will.
I will gladly wear that everychance I get.
Are the other patrol guys andgals excited?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (35:49):
from what I could tell, most people
are pretty excited about it I'vebeen seeing some pictures
floating around everyone tryingtheir hats on and I got a big
old dome.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (35:57):
I had to get one of the bigger
sizes.
It wasn wasn't quite a size 8,but it's one of the bigger ones.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:01):
I tried them on and I'm not what I
thought I was.
I had to go a couple sizesbigger than what I thought my
head size was.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus B (36:09):
I guess it's grown a little over
the years Since that boomer post.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (36:13):
I think it's grown even bigger.
That's all the wisdom.
That's all the wisdom.
That's all the wisdom.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:17):
That's what Brandon says the wisdom.
Well, Brandon, we reallyappreciate you coming on,
Absolutely Appreciate you comingin on your free time to chat
with us, so we appreciate it.
Keep doing what you're doingman Will do.
You're knocking it out of thepark out there.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (36:32):
Well , thank you and everyone notices
.
I appreciate that, appreciatey'all having me.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (36:36):
Yes , we would love to see you
promote.
You would be a great fit.
Officer Brandon Villarrea (36:39):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:41):
Thank everyone for listening or
watching today.
If you'd like to know moreabout upcoming events, go to our
website, allenpoliceorg.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (36:48):
And make sure to like and subscribe
, and if you have any questions,leave them down in the comments
below.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:56):
All right, see you next time.
Welcome back to another episode of Allen
Police.
Behind the Badge, we're yourhosts, officer Sam Ripamani and
Alexis Birmingham.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (00:09):
And today our special guest is
Officer Brandon Villareal.
Thank you for joining us.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (00:13):
Not a problem, hey Brandon.
So how?
long have you been with Allennow?
Just a little over a year and ahalf.
All right, I was hired in.
October of 23.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:22):
And you're currently in patrol.
I am so any interesting storiesyou can share from your patrol
over the last year and a half.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (00:29):
Yeah , sure it actually happened to
be on training.
That's the most recent one Ican think of.
That's an interesting storybecause it never ceases to amaze
me how honest people will be.
It took me completely bysurprise how honest people will
be.
It took me completely bysurprise.
I went through phase two oftraining with Officer Bly and
Officer Garcia Lugardo Garcia,who was they're both amazing,
(00:51):
Learned a lot from both of them,and I heard a lot about Officer
Bly being one of those guysthat just knows how to find
things If things just find him,you know and it just never
happened and I kept giving him ahard time Like man, when are we
gonna find something he's likeI?
don't know, maybe you justcanceled these things out, and
so he happened to be on vacationthe last day that I was on
training.
(01:11):
So I went with Corporal Murrayat the time who's you know now
in a different division, and Inever really got up on the
highway very much and he's like,hey, why don't we take a trip
up and down the highway?
Once I was was like sure, whynot?
And so we got on just at Legacy, starting to head northbound.
It got a little slow.
Traffic was about 50 miles anhour, some people kind of
(01:32):
slowing things down and someonecomes barreling past us.
Wasn't speeding per se, justunsafe for the conditions.
So I kind of sped up a littlebit and he's like I don't know
what that person's doing.
I was sped up a little bit andhe's like I don't know what that
person's doing.
It's like I don't know.
She went from the left lane allthe way to the right, all across
all lanes, without signal.
I was like, all right, I'mgonna stop her.
So I pulled her over, rolledthe window down and I was like
(01:54):
whoa smelled very heavily ofmarijuana and I was like, okay,
hey, where are you heading today?
She's like, oh, just going tosee some friends.
Okay, I'm going to get anotherunit out here.
So they sent another unit and Ihave her step out of the car
and I told her the reason forthe stop but I was like, hey, I
could smell marijuana in the car.
When was the last time therewas any marijuana in there?
(02:17):
She goes probably earlier today.
Oh, okay, okay, was it yours?
Um, was it yours?
She's like, yeah, I have, youknow, some conditions that I
need it for.
I said, okay, am I going tofind anything more than maybe
just that little bit?
Or she goes, uh, just mydeliveries.
And I was like, oh, so, likeyour your uber deliveries or
something.
She goes, no, my weeddeliveries.
I was like, okay, well, whydon't you go ahead and turn
(02:39):
around, put your hands behindyour back?
Um, you're detained at themoment.
And so I sat in the car and,sure enough, they had.
She had a big bag that had awhole bunch of stuff in there
that was labeled for each of thecities she was going to.
Um had some vape pens and somethc wax and, um, don't worry, I
clarified, she is not a residentof allen she was passing
(03:01):
through.
um, but it just it never ceasesto amaze me how, how honest
people are with you, and thatkind of took me by surprise and
I kind of laughed at the moment.
But then I looked back and Iwas like man, that's a pretty
hefty deal that she had goingthere.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (03:14):
Yeah, you know, I always tell my kids
if they get pulled over behonest.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (03:17):
But I don't think honesty is getting
you out of that.
She took honesty to an entirelynew level, that's for sure,
entirely new level, that's forsure.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (03:22):
Yeah, that was not, I mean honesty's
not helping you on that one.
That's awesome.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (03:26):
So were you always an officer, or
what did you do prior?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (03:30):
This is actually a third career for
me.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (03:32):
Okay .
Officer Brandon Villarreal (03:33):
You know, I'm actually originally
from Allen.
We moved here when I was reallyyoung, back in 94.
Went through Allen High School,went on and played football at
Purdue University, got asociology degree, which kind of
falls in line with some of thestuff that we do in this
profession.
But ideally, I was thinking I'mI'm majoring in football.
You know, I wanted to go be afootball player.
(03:54):
Yeah, um, still kept goodgrades but signed a uh, a free
agent deal with new orleans, uh,with the saints, right after
college, spent about 18 monthswith them and then kind of did
that.
Hey, we don't really need youanymore, so we're gonna need the
playbook, um, so, turning theplaybook, came back home, had
(04:15):
our first kid, um, and worked acorporate job, which I don't
really consider my second career.
It was kind of like a, astepping stone to the next part.
Um, and I realized that therehad to be some sort of
interaction with people otherthan sitting in an office on a
phone doing sales.
That just wasn't for me, so Igot into coaching and teaching.
That was my second career, so Istarted at lovejoy high school.
(04:38):
Um over there in lucas was therefor six years, left there and
went to mckinney north highschool as a defense coordinator
for six years, had a chance toget out of teaching and coaching
.
Not because I wanted to, but Ihad an opportunity to work from
home, see my kids more, makesome good money and then again I
was like my gosh, I, I can't, Ican't do this anymore I can't
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (05:00):
do it.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (05:01):
I actually intended on running for
school board, actually for thecity of Allen, allen ISD, and
that didn't work out.
But the day of the electionhappened to be May 6, 2023,
which is a very sad day in thecity of Allen and I thought to
myself I can find a way to helpserve this community better than
(05:22):
just sitting on a school board.
And so, uh, rip, you know myfather-in-law, I called him.
He used to be an officer inthis department for 36 years and
I said do you think this issomething I could do?
I mean, I'm 40 years old, hegoes, absolutely he goes.
You need to start thatapplication process now.
And so I did, and was contactedby um investigator Gilmore and
(05:46):
everybody there, and here we are, a year and a half later.
It's just I've always had thisknack of wanting to serve and
protect people.
On the fact that it's myhometown something I'm very well
invested in and deep-rooted inwas a no-brainer so backtracking
a little bit on your story.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:02):
So with when, the football, and that
fast.
It's fascinating to me becauseas a kid I'm like I'm going to
play in the NFL one day.
I had zero chance of playing incollege let alone the NFL.
But I think that happens tomore often than not where
they're like okay, your servicesaren't needed anymore, like you
(06:22):
were saying, so it's something.
I guess it's a business.
It is, you hear that a lot Likethis is a business that's cut
through.
I mean we see that in Dallasright now with the Mavericks.
Officer Brandon Villarre (06:34):
That's going to go down as one of the
worst trades of all time.
Officer Sam Rippamon (06:36):
Absolutely , but that's just my opinion,
sure.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (06:46):
So I'm sure that was a I mean
realizing all right football'sover.
It hit me worse than I thoughtit would.
To be honest with you, you knowyou go through your entire life
doing something you love,thinking this is going to be
what I do for the rest of mylife, and knowing that at some
point in time either I was goingto choose or somebody else was
going to choose for that to bemy time to be done and I had to
have my next step.
But nobody thinks that you'regoing to get that taken away
(07:08):
from you before you're ready,you know so I thought I'm going
to have this long, illustriouscareer, be able to retire with
millions and be able to justlive off of those millions.
Well, that didn't happen.
You know, you get 18 months inand they're like, hey, so about
that playbook?
Like what are you talking about?
So when, initially, I sat downin front of Sean Payton I said,
(07:32):
is there anything I can do?
I mean, you want me to go be along snapper, because I did that
in college too.
Didn't play just D-line, andhe's like it's a little early in
the season for us to figurethat part out.
So we'll have to take a coupleof weeks and figure out if if we
need to make any moreadjustments.
I was like, well, look, I'm acheaper option.
You know your long snappers, a12 year vet, he's making
(07:52):
$900,000.
You can pay me 300 grand youknow let's do this and he's like
I, so people ask me if I liketo watch shows like what's it on
HBO?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:06):
Hard Knocks Hard.
Officer Brandon Villarre (08:06):
Knocks .
I'm like that's like PTSD forme.
Yeah, because I see those guyswalking through the locker room
and they're like bring yourplaybook.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:13):
I'm like ooh, oh man, you remember that
day vividly.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (08:15):
I feel that pain for those guys.
So yeah, it was a little bitunnerving, to say the least, but
I look back on it.
It made me better for who I amnow.
You had your college yeahabsolutely, and, to Sean
Payton's credit, after leavingthere he treated everybody who
(08:37):
left the organization likeroyalty.
So if we wanted to go back downthere, we were always welcome
to go.
Be with the team, be at thelocker room.
When they came here to Dallas Iwould always take my kids to go
to the team hotel, hang outwith the players while we talk
with them, go to the games onSundays and all that stuff
Awesome.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:52):
So you still have friends that you
played with in the league today.
Yeah, absolutely so.
You're in touch with some ofthem.
Outreach Coordinator Ale (08:57):
Mm-hmm .
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:58):
So you went into coaching.
Yeah, your way to make it wholelike kind of you know I'm done
with football but now I canstill be part of football, yeah,
it was um.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (09:07):
I didn't know that initially that
you had to be a certifiedteacher in the state of texas as
a public, as a public coach,public school coach.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:16):
Yeah, I just thought they always did
teach, because I just happenedto be there, so somewhere right,
right, yeah, so I got into it,wanting to become a coach, and I
was like, well, I've got tobecome a teacher.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (09:27):
So I went through that, that process
, and um, the alternativecertification yes, I went
through an alternativecertification program and I
learned to love teaching morethan I ever thought I would yeah
um, what subject?
I was a business teacher, okay,so thankfully I didn't have to
worry about standardized testingum I could just have the kids
enjoy the class.
(09:47):
Do test grades by, you know,doing um group work or projects
projects and things of thatnature, and the parents loved it
too, because I didn't send anyhomework home yeah, they're like
they already have enoughhomework.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:58):
I'm sure the kids really.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (09:59):
Oh, they love that too um, but I
learned to love that because inorder to be a great coach, you
have to be a great teacher tosome degree, and it's not always
about the curriculum, it'sabout life lessons, it's about
relating with one another andmaking them better people, and I
think that's what really droveme to want to go back every
single day and love what I do,which I think helped prepare me
for what I'm doing now beingable to just connect with people
(10:22):
.
That was a huge deal doing nowbeing able to just connect with
people.
Yeah, um, that was a huge deal.
And if, in my opinion, if youcan connect with teenagers well
enough, I mean you can reallyconnect with just about anybody,
because they're they're toughto get along with sometimes.
All right, I have.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:33):
I have three of those at home.
It's tough day to day dependingon, yes, especially with my
middle one.
She's.
It's my daughter.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (10:42):
Yeah , but I love the waters,
sometimes just to see yeah, Iloved it.
I enjoyed it.
Um, I felt like it was my wayto give back to kids the same
things that were given to me asfar as my knowledge of the game,
with the coaching side of itand but, yeah, I loved it.
It was something that I wish Iwould still do from time to time
to go talk football, but thegood Lord has me where I need to
(11:04):
be right now.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (11:05):
This is where I want to be, so you
don't coach on your free timeanymore.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (11:08):
I do actually some individual
sessions with D-line kids, some8th graders, 9th graders, some
high school kids, mostly throughAllen.
I've got a couple kids fromProsper and McKinney that'll
come out to Allen.
We'll do a one-hour sessionjust teach them some football
stuff.
My biggest thing is I just wantthem to ask questions.
(11:29):
Ask me a football question.
I don't care if it has anythingto do with that specific
position.
I'll teach you that stuff.
If you want to know why did theChiefs call this play on third
and four, if I've got a goodanswer I'll tell you.
If I don't, then I'll find itfor you.
But I want those kids to lovethe game and want to be more
invested in it, have a reason towant to go play.
So yeah, I do a little bit ofcoaching on the side, but it's
(11:52):
definitely not putting in 90hours a week like I used to by
any stretch.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (11:58):
What do?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (11:58):
you do for the department.
Now you're a patrol officer.
So what's a day of a patrolofficer?
Or a night, sure?
So I'm working nights right now.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (12:03):
Yeah I'm 6 pm to 6 am.
Um, I'm one of those peoplethat I'm very, very early, so I,
if I'm not on shift till six,I'm usually at the station by 4
45 people like what are you,what are you doing?
Here.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (12:16):
This is just how I've always been
game planning.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (12:18):
Yes, that's exactly what it is.
When I was in, when I coaching,I was there at least an hour
before the kids were Funny storyactually, now that I think
about this, the reason why myparents always taught me to be
very punctual.
My grandfather was a naval.
He was a ranked officer in theNavy, oh wow and was very big on
(12:39):
punctuality and English.
Those were the two things.
Proper grammar um freshman yearof college I was red shirting.
Now I'll keep this short.
My father-in-law and his familycame to watch the game that
weekend.
Well, on sunday we had to get alift in before we went to do
anything and then we had to comeback at 2.30 for team practice.
(13:02):
Got my lift done at 5 o'clockin the morning and Mike says we
want to go to Chicago.
I'm like that's two hours away.
He's like it's fine.
I was like we've got to be backhere no later than 2 o'clock
because I've got a team meetingat 2.30.
Got it, we're standing in themiddle of Chicago at 12.30.
(13:24):
And I was like we got to go.
He's like, oh crap, we got togo.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:29):
Oh my goodness, Totally my coach.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (13:32):
So, needless to say, we get all the
way back and I walk into theteam meeting 10 seconds late and
my coach is like get out of mymeeting and so.
So I went through practice andthen the next three days I had
to condition because I was lateto a meeting 10 seconds, 10
seconds late.
So, um, I carried that for therest of my career and then on
(13:55):
into what I do.
People like I'll be 15, 30minutes early.
I'm at least an early.
So to get back to what my patrolday is like, I'm usually at the
station about an hour early,get prepped, get my car ready to
go, any extra gear that I needcheck to make sure you know,
press, check my firearm, makesure everything's good to go
there.
If something needs to be oiled,go to the armory, oil my gun
(14:15):
down.
If I need to Go to briefing andthen hit the street.
Um, if there's any specificthings we need to look at, you
know, when we get into briefing,if there's been a string of
bmvs burglars, motor vehicles,if there's been retail thefts,
we'll add some extra patrolaround those specific areas and
just ensure that we're keeping abetter eye on those things.
(14:37):
But from there it's just tryingto do our best to make sure
that we're making good trafficstops, keeping the streets safe,
uh, from a traffic standpoint,and then the biggest thing for
me is being good responders tothe calls for service that we
have.
In my opinion, that's, that'sthe first and foremost thing
that we need to do.
Um, when the public needs ourhelp, we need to be there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (14:59):
Yeah, so I'll get a lot of calls at
night.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (15:02):
Yeah , there's more.
It depends.
It's crazy because it dependson the day.
You would think that Friday andSaturday nights are always
going to be the highest callvolume nights.
Sometimes they're dead,sometimes it's a Wednesday night
just randomly, all of a sudden,all these things pop up and
it's call to call and next thing, you know know, it's two
o'clock in the morning, likewhat the heck just happened in
my night like I had no idea thatthis was going to happen, but
(15:24):
there's quite a few calls, morethan I, more than I anticipated
to be happening between midnightand three o'clock in the
morning on a wednesday orthursday.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (15:31):
Yeah, um , but yeah, there's a good
amount of calls I used to jokethat allen was a very fair
weather community, like whenit's cold outside now and at
nighttime oh yeah it's, you seerabbits everywhere.
But you don't see people verymuch no like you can drive down
city streets it seems like formiles and not see a single car.
Because it's cold outside,people are locked up yeah and
(15:54):
you'll see coyotes too, coyotesand rabbits we used to joke
about that, so it's good to seeit hadn't changed a lot.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (16:00):
No, not much.
It's pretty much the same.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:03):
And this year at the awards banquet.
I think somebody got somehardware there, oh boy.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (16:09):
Yeah , he did.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:11):
Rookie of the year.
Yeah yeah, that's a pretty bigone, man.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus B (16:14):
I didn't think you were going to
bring that up so I appreciatethat we're going to embarrass
you a little bit.
We don't want to embarrass youa little bit.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:20):
That's pretty awesome, though, because
we've been hiring a lot ofofficers in Allen, and so it's
not like it's just one or two ofyou to choose from to win that
award, and we got someexceptional officers.
Our hiring standards in Allenare pretty high.
Officer Brandon Villarr (16:36):
They're very high.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:40):
And the fact that you came in and won
that.
Officer Brandon Villarre (16:41):
that's amazing.
I was shocked, to be honestwith you, with the amount of
guys that we have and girls.
Either way, there's a lot ofgreat officers in our department
, absolutely.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:51):
Very humbled by it.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (16:53):
Well , thank you Very, very humbled
by it.
I kind of looked at it as, yeah, rookie of the year means you
haven't had a whole lot ofexperience experience so they're
basing it off of everythingyou've done to that point.
But I look at some of the guysthat I've been through the
academy with, been on shift with, and I'm like how in the world
did that guy not get it?
You know, because I've alwaysbeen one of those people to try
(17:16):
to build others up and not putmyself in front, if that makes
sense.
It actually took my wife untilabout year eight or nine, when I
was coaching, for her to saywould you just step up and tell
people you want to be a headcoach now, instead of trying to
help other people become headcoaches?
And I was like what do you mean?
She's like you're always tryingto help others, why don't you
(17:36):
do it for yourself?
Now?
I was like it's not about me,it's about the whole team and,
as cliche as it may sound,that's just how I've always team
over me, correct, and so Icouldn't care less about a title
, an award, but at the same timeI'm humbled by it.
I'm thankful that thedepartment and and supervisors
(17:57):
and those that I work with, feltthat I was worthy of that.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:01):
People notice.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (18:03):
It's an awesome deal.
I think I've been cursed by itsince, though.
Since then, all the fun callsI'm usually dealing with those
are yours now no.
I've been dealing with barkingdogs when all the fun stuff's
going on, or a 911 hang-up.
That's a good problem.
Or a Norris complaint and I'mlike oh, that was man.
I wish I could have been a partof that one over there.
(18:25):
So it's kind of an ongoing jokeright now.
That's funny.
So if a pursuit kicks off,where's Villarreal?
He's probably picking up antson the side of the road, or
something like that.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (18:35):
Is there anything new in your unit
?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (18:41):
Or how's drive to thrive affecting
what you guys are doing on aday-to-day base.
Sure, um, you know, I think thedrive to thrive um initiative
has been good, especially fordays.
I think people are definitelytaking that into consideration.
We don't have quite the volumeof cars on the road at nighttime
, but I am seeing a lot betterdriving.
To be honest with you, um, andthat includes criminals, I don't
know.
I guess the criminals know thatwe're out quite a bit.
(19:03):
They know that we like topatrol.
Chief Dye is very, very high ontraffic stops and making sure
that we're visible and I thinkthat everybody sees that and I
think it's also helping peopledrive a lot better.
So that initiative has beenawesome.
Doesn't change the fact thatpeople still don't get their
registrations updated.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (19:21):
So get your registrations updated,
people yep um as far as new Idon't really know there's
anything new right now.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (19:29):
I know we're supposed to be
hopefully getting some new umcomputers in the cars.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (19:34):
I know those have been out they've been
doing that this week, so you'llprobably have a new one today
when you that'll be awesome.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (19:38):
So that's about the newest I can
say, and I I know that we have acouple of guys that just got
out of either training orlateral officers, so we're still
kind of gelling as a unit.
I'm on the B2 shift.
It's a great group of guys,very high active group or
proactivity wise.
They're a very, very good groupof guys.
Um, and even though I'm one ofthe newer to the profession, I'm
(20:02):
also one of the older on theshift too.
Um, because I'll be 42 here ina couple months and I look at
them like you guys are babies,you know they're like shut up,
grandpa, hey, I feel that I feelthe same.
You know I'll be 44 this year,yeah so, um, as far as what's
new, I don't know a whole lot,except for maybe the computers
(20:24):
right now, but I just know thatwhat we're seeing out there from
people driving-wise it'sgetting better, and I'm hoping
that some fun stuff will starttaking place here in the next
couple weeks as well.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:36):
We're good with quiet too though, no
100% we like quiet too.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (20:40):
We did get some promotions, though
, sergeant, and you guys gotLieutenant Frank Page.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (20:45):
Yeah , so Lieutenant Page is on the
one side of the week, ourlieutenant is Lieutenant Maness
on ours, but Sergeant Williamswent to B1 as well, which he
happened to be one of my um ftosduring training was he, so that
was really nice man he's.
He's a great officer.
(21:05):
He's got a great story too.
He'd be another person, be agreat one oh, he's on for this
podcast.
He doesn't know it yet, but he'son the list.
See, I'm already thinking likeyou guys are.
He's, he's a good one to get,but, um, yeah, and then, uh, you
know, serge Sergeant Centenoover on A2.
There's been a lot of greatpromotions.
I think they fit in very well.
(21:26):
There hasn't been a singleshift that I've seen that I've
worked on, either duringtraining or that I'm currently
on, where I don't see some sortof gelling going on.
There's no dissension betweenpeople.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (21:39):
I can sense that yeah around the
station, being around all theofficers and guys.
That feel like everybody's kindof bonding, that we really are.
It really is a family, brother,sisterhood is really growing
100, which is great to see.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (21:56):
We absolutely enjoy the group of
people that we work with, andover the course of training and
through now, I was able to gothrough every different shift
and I didn't feel at any giventime like I wasn't a part of
that shift the first day I wason it and when I left that I
couldn't come back to that group.
So it's a really great group ofpatrol officers that we have.
(22:19):
And then, really across theentire department, there isn't
anybody that you can't walkthrough the hallways and doesn't
say hello or make you feel likeyou've known them for a long
time.
But some of them.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (22:29):
I have, so I've got to pick on your
father-in-law just a little bit.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus B (22:35):
I hope he's watching this.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (22:36):
If he watches or listens to this, he's
going to have some words to sayto me.
Next time I see him, sure, lovehim to death.
I've been here 18 years andI've known him since the
beginning and he knew my in-lawsfrom my fallen old retired
state trooper.
So they've known each other foryears.
(22:56):
So Mike's always been reallygood to me.
We've played golf together,we've laughed, we've yelled at
each other for years.
So mike, mike's always beenreally good to me.
We've played golf together we'veyou know we've laughed, we've
yelled at each other like thewhole.
You know he talks loud anywaysure just a loud guy.
But that guy is a salesman.
He's the only man I know thatcould go get dispatched to a
rollover accident and walk awaythere without any paperwork.
(23:20):
And I don't you laugh, both ofy'all, I am not making this up.
He could go to a call wheresomebody gets stabbed and he's
going to somehow figure out howto not do paperwork.
He was the king of talking hisway out of a report and it
actually took on a name.
(23:41):
Have you heard the name?
such in it, such in it I don'tknow if it's alive and well
anymore.
I think.
I think we're in a differentage now there's.
Officer Brandon Villarr (23:49):
There's still a good amount of people
who know that that term, thatterm, we used to laugh about it
like, oh, I'm gonna go such this.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (23:55):
I mean, we were just joking, sure, but
we would always say and he'd belike oh, whatever, and he'd get
mad and yell at us, yeah yeah,um, I was fully aware of that.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (24:04):
Um, I don't know that that that
mentality lives so much, butit's, it's.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:09):
It's in the lore of alan pd, for sure, I
think that's the old days forsure absolutely, but it
absolutely we've teased himabout that for years and I'm
gonna have to make sure to saysomething to him again.
Oh yeah, he'll watch this andhe'll he'll probably text me and
I'm gonna have to make sure tosay something to him again.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (24:21):
Oh yeah, he'll watch this and he'll
he'll probably text me well,I'm sure that mayor brooks will
too, because I know that mayorbrooks knows about it too.
Oh, that's funny.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:29):
He'll tell me I owe him a round of
golf.
Yep, you know like that's whathe tells me every time I see him
.
So, and you might be able tobeat him I don't know why you
think he plays enough.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (24:39):
But every time I see him he's like
oh no, I shot like 88, 89.
I'm like, how are you notshooting in the low 70s by now?
He's like I don't know, I'vegot to figure something else out
, because he's all gas, he'sjust always wound up All gas, no
brakes.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:55):
Man, he's just going.
Yeah, I Years ago last time weplayed and he was actually.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (24:58):
He's a good golfer, he can hold his
own.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:00):
He is.
He's a good golfer.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (25:01):
And he's talking the whole time.
Oh yeah, I'm like this guy andyou better hurry.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:05):
Oh, like he's not joking, no, he doesn't
want to wait on anybody he'sready to go.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (25:15):
It doesn't matter if you're not
moving at Mike's such pace.
You're not moving fast enough,that's awesome.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:24):
So goals with Allen Police Department.
You want to promote what do?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (25:28):
you think that's on the shelf for
now.
I mean, I want to make sure toget a good enough amount of time
on patrol to really figure outwhat it is I want to do.
I thought initially coming intobeing an officer that a couple
years in maybe being an SROmight be a natural fit for me,
having been in schools for 12years.
I don't know, maybe it is,maybe it isn't.
(25:50):
I've toyed with the idea ofmaybe wanting to get into canine
.
I love the idea of being acanine officer and then maybe to
potentially promote or even gointo CID maybe later in the
career and work crimes againstpersons.
I've always loved the idea ofinvestigating things and solving
cases and things of that nature.
But in all honesty I don't knowwhat the full-on long-term goal
(26:11):
is, because I'm still gettingmy feet wet into patrol and I
love every second of it, and Idon't just say that because I'm
on this podcast or around peoplein the department.
I truly do enjoy what I'm doingevery single day.
It's a reason to get out of bedand go make a difference,
because although we get to takepeople to jail that do crimes
and that's a great part of ourjob a lot of it is just
(26:33):
connecting with the community.
There's, over the last howevermany years I think, there's been
kind of a 50-50 view of whatlaw enforcement is and sometimes
if you just show a little bitof grace and humility towards
people, they tend to change.
Like the second you stop.
They're like why am I beingpulled over?
(26:53):
And then, hey, man, justthought I'd let you know your
taillights out.
Oh, okay, when are you going toget that taken care of?
And just have a conversationwith people and then next time
you see them they don't havequite that same demeanor about
them.
So I enjoy that communityengagement, involvement and
really connecting people.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (27:12):
So I don't know.
Officer Brandon Villarrea (27:13):
We'll see Eventually.
I would love to promote, but Idon't know when that's going to
be.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (27:18):
If you go back in the schools, man,
they're going to have youhelping coach football in
uniform, then you'll be reallyout there no doubt, no doubt do
you have any collateral dutiesor any passion for anything
right now in the department?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (27:32):
you know, I'm actually working to
get into the drone unit.
Um, I've worked with dronesbefore.
I just don't have my fa license.
So working on the process ofdoing that, that's something
that I have a pretty biginterest in, and once I can get
myself figured out with thatside of things and helping out
with that, I'll see if there'ssome other things that kind of
(27:53):
catch my interest.
But for right now that'ssomething I love the idea of.
Yeah, maybe I'm not involved inthe pursuit because I wasn't
close enough, but I'm the onlydrone guy available and they
need someone in case there's afoot bail.
Well then I can go get involvedwith it.
So I love that opportunity topotentially be a part of that.
So that's one of those thingsthat I'm hoping over the next
couple weeks here we can getcertified and get started.
Outreach Coordinator Al (28:13):
There's a lot of use for the drones.
I mean not just you knowpursuits.
I mean any like child loss.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (28:20):
Oh yeah, I mean helping locate
suspects, helping locate missingpeople, runaways things of that
nature.
Um, I think it's a huge deal,Um, and to have that big eye
over the sky helping see thingsthat other people can't.
I would love to be a part ofthat, and that's why I'm going
through the process of it.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (28:35):
You can come out to our events and
show off the drones.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (28:37):
Kids love the drones.
No doubt they love seeing allthe technology that we have and
it's pretty interesting.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (28:43):
Even robotics.
That's pretty neat too, thelittle robot that we have.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (28:47):
So the drones are fascinating to me the
way they fly them indoors now.
So it's so much safer if wehave someone barricaded in a
house.
We don't send a person inanymore, or even a canine, for
that right that takes the riskof getting hurt.
We can fly those drones in andyou know, if a drone gets
knocked out of there, they'reall insured you know, nobody's
(29:08):
hurt, we'll send another one in.
Yeah, whatever we need to do andwhat you know one call that
comes to mind with the drone.
We had a uh, it was a robberysuspect and he fled into a
neighborhood.
A robbery didn't happen in ourcity, but he carried over into
Allen and he wrecked his car outand fled on foot.
We had a patrol officer thatgot a drone up out of their car,
(29:29):
got it up in the air right awayand they watched him.
He was going through backyardstrying to run and the drone
didn't go anywhere.
Outreach Coordinator Al (29:36):
They're so fast You're not going to
outrun it Faster than a dog.
The drone didn't go anywhere.
They're so fast.
You're not going to outrun itFaster than a dog, oh yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (29:40):
So that drone just hovered.
He's right here, crouched downunder these trees and these
bushes and they surrounded itand he finally peeked up over
the fence and I think it wasLieutenant Page standing there,
and that's who we wenteye-to-eye with he's like, oh
man, I messed up that.
Officer Brandon Villarre (29:56):
That's not the guy you want to be eye
to eye with.
He snatched him up real quick.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (30:00):
That one was done at that point and it's
such a valuable tool.
What you guys I mean, likeChief Dye says, y'all are the
hub of the department.
We're all just a spoke on thatwheel Patrol is what makes this
department go around, and weappreciate what y'all do Well
thank you.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (30:21):
We appreciate everything you guys
do as well out there at nighttime when we're home asleep it's
like you know, people losesight of that and forget about
that.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (30:28):
Uh, you know a lot of sacrifices made.
Now one more thing I want totalk to you about.
You have kids, right?
I do two boys I do have twoboys all right, is any one of
them playing football?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (30:40):
so my oldest is a uh, is a junior
right now on the allen varsityfootball team, um, and then my
youngest is a seventh grader inthe middle school program and
he's already a bigger than I amtaller than I am, for that
matter so they're, they'repretty athletic kids.
My oldest plays football, doesa little bit of wrestling, my
(31:01):
youngest is basketball, baseball, football all right.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (31:04):
So what's that like as dad now
watching your boy on fridaynight out there?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (31:10):
it's alan eagles.
Yeah, that's a big team, that'sa big stadium like spotlight
yeah, the uh, the soft side ofme says it warms my heart, you
know to seeing my son play.
You know my alma mater anddoing, in my opinion, better
things than I did when I was inhigh school and on a team that's
way more successful and has waymore notoriety than I ever had.
(31:30):
And then the other side of it.
I have to keep myself fromwanting to just unload on him
for things that he's not doingor doing, oh, things he could do
better, correct.
Then my coaching side comes out.
But I have to tell myself, nobe dad.
What positions he play.
He's an offensive lineman, sohe plays center.
Um, that's probably what he'sgoing to project at in college.
(31:51):
Um, or potentially guard.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (31:51):
Just kind of depends on where they
need him so you would have beenlining up across from him yes
tackle do you ever line up infront of him?
I still tell, tell him to thisday.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (32:00):
I don't care how in shape you are
and maybe how in shape I get tothe point when I'm not maybe
it's 100% between the ears I canstill whoop him every time and
I tell him I got that old manstrength.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (32:11):
Old man, strength and wisdom.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (32:13):
And I said there will never be a
time that your old man can'tbeat you.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (32:17):
Well, I think we should definitely make
this happen One day.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (32:21):
Get y'all in pads and let's, let's
do it I'll be good for one play,and then I'll be tapping out
yeah, we'll get that play onvideo.
Yes, that's the one but yeah,so it's it's.
It's pretty cool to watch himplay um, and then my young also
be coming up in a couple yearswhat positions he play.
He's a quarterback and I neverthought I'd be a quarterback dad
tackle those guys exactly, soit's a little weird for me.
(32:42):
Um, when he gets hit, I'm likeyeah, oh wait, I can't I can't
do that yeah um, but no, he's,he's enjoying that.
He really wants to be abasketball player.
Um, I kid you not.
When I watch him he reminds meof luca, the way he moves around
.
He's kind of got that, and thisis the way I talk about Luka.
(33:03):
He seems like that old man atthe local gym that just knows
how to play.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (33:08):
Yeah, you know, and he just sinks
every shot.
He's not super fast or anything.
How does he?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (33:12):
do that.
That's exactly what he lookslike, but he's incredibly
intelligent for the game ofbasketball.
He sees everything.
He sees passes and I'm likewhat are you?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (33:27):
oh, that was pretty cool so he's a very
good basketball player and he'sa pitcher in baseball.
He's totally different than you.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (33:32):
He's doing quite a few things, so
we're still trying to figure outwhat the route is, but I have
no intentions of stopping him onany of the three.
If he wants to play all threeof them through high school, I'm
all for that.
He needs to be a well-roundedathlete.
With my oldest being juniorgoing into senior, he's kind of
focused on football now.
Um, so we'll see.
He's got a couple scholarshipoffers from some smaller schools
(33:53):
.
He does want to play and springball is right in the mix right
now, so I'm sure some more willbe coming down the pipeline and
we'll see absolutely that'sexciting is if there's one thing
you can share with ourcommunity, what would it be?
when you get pulled over.
Find a safe place.
I can't tell you how many timeswe'll pull someone over and you
stop dead in the middle of theroad.
Um, that's a safety issue foreverybody, and I laugh when I
(34:16):
say it at first, becausesometimes you look back what
were they thinking?
But at the same time, if wepull you over, just find a safe
spot.
If you're worried that we'regoing to think you're evading or
you're taking off, we don'tthink that.
If you want to find a spotthat's more well lit, we greatly
appreciate that.
And don't stop in the middle ofa major roadway.
Find a side street.
(34:37):
Get off to the right side.
Find a parking lot.
Don't stop immediately in themiddle of the road.
That's a safety issues.
That would be the one thing Iwould tell everybody yeah, we've
had many close calls yes and Ithink some of them are.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (34:50):
Some of our units have been hit
because of sure it's.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (34:54):
It's a, it's a big time safety deal
and if that means you have todrive a half mile to somewhere,
you feel safe as long as you'renot speeding up and trying to
move evasively.
As long as you can find a safeplace, please do.
I would greatly appreciate itand other officers would greatly
appreciate that.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (35:11):
So I heard that we're getting
cowboy hats.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (35:13):
Yes Are you excited.
Highly excited about that.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (35:16):
Are you going to get fitted for one
?
Yes, I am or have you alreadybeen fitted?
I have already been fitted the.
Are you going to get fitted forone?
Yes, I am, or have you alreadybeen fitted?
Officer Brandon Villarreal (35:21):
I have already been fitted.
The first day they said wecould go in there, I was like I
will be in there as quickly as Ipossibly can.
Now I know we're supposed touse them in inclement weather.
If you're going to be outsidein the sun for extended periods
of time and working on nights, Imean I get that many
opportunities but you better,well believe I will have that
(35:47):
thing with me.
I will.
I will gladly wear that everychance I get.
Are the other patrol guys andgals excited?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (35:49):
from what I could tell, most people
are pretty excited about it I'vebeen seeing some pictures
floating around everyone tryingtheir hats on and I got a big
old dome.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (35:57):
I had to get one of the bigger
sizes.
It wasn wasn't quite a size 8,but it's one of the bigger ones.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:01):
I tried them on and I'm not what I
thought I was.
I had to go a couple sizesbigger than what I thought my
head size was.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus B (36:09):
I guess it's grown a little over
the years Since that boomer post.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (36:13):
I think it's grown even bigger.
That's all the wisdom.
That's all the wisdom.
That's all the wisdom.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:17):
That's what Brandon says the wisdom.
Well, Brandon, we reallyappreciate you coming on,
Absolutely Appreciate you comingin on your free time to chat
with us, so we appreciate it.
Keep doing what you're doingman Will do.
You're knocking it out of thepark out there.
Officer Brandon Villarreal (36:32):
Well , thank you and everyone notices
.
I appreciate that, appreciatey'all having me.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (36:36):
Yes , we would love to see you
promote.
You would be a great fit.
Officer Brandon Villarrea (36:39):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:41):
Thank everyone for listening or
watching today.
If you'd like to know moreabout upcoming events, go to our
website, allenpoliceorg.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (36:48):
And make sure to like and subscribe
, and if you have any questions,leave them down in the comments
below.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (36:56):
All right, see you next time.
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