February 28, 2025 • 27 mins
Welcome to a transformative conversation with Officer Will Brindza, part of the Allen Police Department's commitment to wellness and fitness. In this episode, Officer Brindza shares his inspiring journey from a sporting upbringing to becoming a dedicated law enforcement officer who champions health and fitness within the police force.
We dive into the innovative FitForce initiative aimed at ensuring officers are physically and mentally prepared for the challenges they face daily. With candor and humor, Officer Brinza recounts both the serious and light-hearted moments from his career, revealing the multi-faceted nature of policing that often goes unseen. His experiences highlight how fitness programs like CrossFit not only aid in individual officers' wellness but also contribute to better overall community safety.
This episode serves as a reminder that police officers are much more than their badge; they are individuals with personal stories and commitments, making efforts to engage with the community and foster positive relationships. Join us as we explore the connection between proactive health and effective law enforcement. Share your own fitness journeys with us and don’t forget to tune in, subscribe, and leave a review!
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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 Rippamonti
and Alexus Birmingham.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (00:08):
And today our guest is Officer Will
Brindza.
Thank you for joining us.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:11):
Thanks for having me Tell us a little
bit about who Will Brindza is asfar as a person, not so much an
officer.
We'll get into all that.
Officer William Brindza (00:18):
Yes, sir, I was born in Camp Lejeune,
north Carolina.
My dad was a career Marine, soI lived there till I was like 12
years old.
My dad retired and then wemoved out to Portland, Oregon,
area.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:31):
Okay.
Officer William Brindza (00:31):
And I lived there until college.
I was a sports kid baseball,basketball, football Loved
sports, always active, alwaysworking out, was always
interested in law enforcementand like military employment
when I was getting older.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:52):
So that sparked my interest in that.
So how long have you been inTexas?
Officer William Brindza (00:56):
Been in Texas about four years now.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:59):
Consider yourself a Texan.
Yet I'm getting there.
I hope I can Work on that Texanaccent.
Officer William Brindza (01:16):
Yeah, I need to work on that.
So what'd you do, were you anofficer in Oregon?
When you go to Academy, it'svery boot camp-ish.
It's actually on a reserve base.
I think it's Army NationalGuard out in Astoria Oregon.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:30):
Okay.
Officer William Brindza (01:31):
And so you're isolated Oof and it's the
whole meal deal.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:35):
You don't get to go home at night.
Officer William Brindza (01:37):
You don't get to go home at all, no,
and you live in barracks andyou live that whole paramilitary
life.
But it instills the disciplineand it's kind of a controlled,
you know stress environment typeacademy.
Yeah, as a trooper I was veryfortunate in gaining a lot of
(01:57):
experience.
I was a field training officer,taught defensive tactics.
I was a SWAT officer for um along time.
Also was on a mobile responseteam, which is like a riot squad
, um.
I spent a stint as a majorcrimes detective, also taught
health and wellness at ouracademies.
Oh nice, I would teach uhrecruits just basic health and
(02:22):
wellness fitness.
Also on a team called theCritical Incident Response Team,
which was a you could think ofit as a peer support team that
went out in the field wheneverwe had officer-involved
shootings, major incidents or ifwe had a troop having some type
of a you know personal issue orissue at work that needed that
(02:43):
peer support.
So I did that for a long timeas well.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (02:46):
Do you have any good stories you
can share about, like when youwere a trooper?
Officer William Brindza (02:49):
Yes, I have lots of stories.
You know, I worked in a metroarea the Portland metro area for
about nine to 10 years and thenI was a detective and then I
went in the rural area.
So I have had the experiencesof the city and the rural and
I've got all kinds of funnystories and depressing stories.
(03:12):
To be honest, as a trooper likeI said, it's kind of
paramilitary You're always readyto get deployed somewhere in
the state and especially as aSWAT officer, I got deployed all
over the state for all kinds ofmajor incidents.
Some funny stuff that came tomind we had a bad snowstorm one
year, and I'm talking like twofeet of snow.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (03:33):
Like real snow, not like Texas snow,
real snow.
Officer William Brindza (03:35):
So I mean a ton of snow and then it
got warm really fast.
So all this snow melted and wehad flooding problems.
And so I'm going downInterstate 5 and I take an exit
and I know that at the next exit, underneath the overpass, it
gets it's like a low point andit is, I mean, 5-6 feet of water
(03:59):
.
There's no way a car can getthrough it.
And I come up to a stop signit's a 4 way stop and on my
right there's this little HondaAcc.
Get through it.
And I came up to a stop signit's a four-way stop and on my
right there's this little HondaAccord that stops and I'm
looking in it and there's twoyoung kids in it.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (04:09):
Don't do it.
Officer William Brindza (04:10):
And I'm sitting there going.
Is he gonna go straight?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (04:13):
Oh, my goodness.
Officer William Brindza (04:14):
So he goes straight and I watch him go
in the water and I watch himstall out and then I watched
both of them get out and theycould have waited the other way,
but they wait back.
And so I contact them and thedriver is a 19-year-old kid and
he's intoxicated.
Oh my goodness, he's drunk as askunk and I remember just
(04:42):
giving the guy a little bit ofcomedy to him, Because if you
just go the other way, bud, likeI never contact you.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (04:48):
You never get arrested.
Now you're going to jail.
Officer William Brindza (04:50):
So that's one of the stories.
Me and I have all kinds ofstories.
If you want to talk aboutCrossFit, eventually, and
fitness, I have a good storyabout that too, oh yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (05:01):
I want to know do y'all wear hats?
We wear hats, trooper hats,campaign hats.
So, people listening, I needy'all to comment in and let us
know.
Do we need hats here in Allen?
I think we need hats, I thinkwe do.
What kind of hats, though, isthe question?
Cowboy hats, cowboy hats allthe way?
Yeah, 100%.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (05:16):
So what brought you to Allen?
Officer William Brindza (05:18):
Well, I have some family here.
I have a cousin and some otherfamily.
My parents moved to East Texasand my wife and I visited here
several times some friends andmy family and we just loved it.
We love the country, feel it'sa lot more laid back.
The schools are really goodhere overall.
(05:39):
It's just a different vibe andit kind of fit both our
personalities.
So we just fell in love with itand the second we came, the
second we landed here.
We're like that's where we'regoing.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (05:51):
So what do you do for the
department?
Officer William Brindza (05:53):
So, uh, my primary duty is, uh, through
the traffic team, I'm acommercial vehicle inspector, so
I enforce uh state and federalcommercial vehicle law.
Um, and now I'm heading up ourinitiative on fitness and I am a
level three CrossFit instructor, and through CrossFit we
(06:15):
created a affiliate of CrossFitcalled CrossFit Virtue, and so
I'm the head coach of that, andso we have classes mostly in the
morning right now for ourofficers, I participated in one
of those workouts last week.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:30):
It's the first CrossFit workout I've
ever done.
I've always been scared of it.
It's just because I don't knowa lot about it, right, and it
was everything and more than Iexpected.
I was sore for a few days, butit was a good soreness, yeah, so
I'm excited to get back inthere.
I know we have a lot of guysall the way up to our assistant
chief that are taking yourclasses.
Officer William Brindza (06:52):
Yes, Our two morning classes are
actually very busy.
Didn't mention, I owned aCrossFit gym in Wilsonville,
oregon, for about nine and ahalf-ish years and when I moved
to Texas I sold it to one of mycoaches and they're still doing
really, really well.
I think that we just hit 13years, total 13 or 14 years.
So it's not new to me to run agym.
(07:14):
It's not new to me if likescheduling and teaching and
coaching and all that.
So our first two classes of theday 5.30 AM to 6.30 AM on most
days where we are teaching thosefrom Monday through Thursday,
we're having those classes andthe 5.30 am is consistently
about 7 to 13, maybe 15 peoplethat's awesome, officers and the
(07:38):
6.30 is pretty consistent fromlike 5 to 10 people.
So just those first two classes.
I mean we're getting you know agood 10% of the department.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (07:49):
Yeah, that's, that's a great.
That's a great start.
I think it'll continue to build, because you know words, get
now you know how good theworkouts are and you're not.
You're not just going in thereand killing us either, and so
I've learned with CrossFit theworkouts can be very tailored to
your you know fitness level.
Officer William Brindza (08:08):
So that was good to know going in.
Yeah, I mean, our overall goalis, um, to support our officers
through their duties, right, getthem more physically fit.
Uh, to perform their duties,but just overall health, you
know, uh, chief Dye is reallyinto um.
You're not just a number hereat Allen PD, you're not just the
(08:28):
badge number.
We care about our officers andwe want them to live happy lives
outside of police work and whenwe retire we want to still have
, you know, life left in us togo do the things we want to do.
Officer Sam Rippamon (08:41):
Absolutely Hang out with our family for
years to come, and the fitnessis just one of the cornerstones
of this FitForce program.
You also oversee that as well.
Officer William Brindza (08:53):
Yeah, I'm a big part of the FitForce
program.
We develop the fitness teststhat we're taking in October
every year.
But you know there's differentpieces to the FitForce the
spiritual, the financial, themental and I'm a part of the
peer support team here as welland that's been great.
Not only were we having successhelping our officers, but we've
(09:16):
been fortunate to go to otherdepartments and help them as
well Multiple departmentsactually in the area and go help
officers navigate through.
You know the emotions ofofficer-involved shootings,
officer deaths.
You know personal things on andon there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:39):
Yeah, and that's always been the thing
Officers don't like to talkabout stuff they're going
through, but I feel like moreand more you know that we're
evolving and people are moreopen to.
I think it's 53 or 54 percentmore likely to commit suicide.
Officer William Brindza (10:10):
And that is a huge stat compared to
you know, your normal citizen.
And that's because we deal withso much trauma, so much emotion
and we're human.
So how do we cope with thosethings?
So peer support, honestly, is alot of just how can I help my
(10:31):
fellow officer cope withwhatever they're going through?
And a lot of that, can you know, a normal citizen can relate to
, because they go through a lotof the same stuff.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:41):
Got to talk about it.
Yes, you do so.
You said you had a funny or aninteresting CrossFit story.
Officer William Brindza (10:47):
Yes, so I've always been an athlete.
I was a college baseball player, university Pacific in Stockton
, california, so you know I hadathletics in my background.
I was in pretty good shape whenI graduated college, but when I
went to Academy which was nottoo long after I graduated, but,
(11:08):
um, I wasn't in shape.
And so when I got, I gotthrough Academy right, which was
fine, cause I've been anathlete and you just adapt Um.
But when I got on the on theroad, I started, you know,
realizing I gotta get bettershape.
So I actually went to um, anMMA gym, and on Saturdays they
(11:29):
would run CrossFit classes, andthis is in 2007.
So CrossFit was kind of likepretty new, pretty brand new, so
we would do the workout of theday from the CrossFitcom and I
was like this is awesome, and Ihad probably been doing it for
like two months and I wasworking nights and I stopped the
vehicle pretty late at night,it was probably like one in the
(11:50):
morning.
It was going South Island I-5.
I remember this distinctly justoutside of Portland it was a
California plated Chevy Impalaand it had tinted out windows.
There was three individualsinside.
Anyway, I had indicators ofpossible criminal activities.
I got them out of the car and Iwas working with one of our
(12:11):
drug canines.
His name was Joe, and so Joebrought the drug canine, beckett
, sent it to the canine and runsthe canine around the car and
the canine gets on the trunk andhe opens up the trunk and
there's a bag like a gym bagthat's pretty much is flopped
open and there's like five orsix crown royal bags, purple
(12:33):
crown royal bags, and one of thebags is like pretty much open.
It's not cinched up and the dogjumps up in there and gets his
nose inside this thing and Imean that cocaine is like going
everywhere.
And so joe turns around andhe's like hey, whose bag is this
wear?
(12:53):
And so joe turns around andhe's like hey, whose bag is this
?
So this kid one of the kids is19 years old is like what bag?
And and joe's like this bag.
And so what bag?
So the kid walks up to thetrunk and like, looking back on,
I was like I shouldn't let thatkid do that.
Joe said the same thing, like Idon't know what I was, but he
was like so flabbergasted thatthis is just open bag of dope
here.
And the kid walks up to the carand then he's like what bag?
(13:18):
He grabs like two or three ofthe bags and he goes to like
this and Joe kind of grabs hisarm and I mean money is in one,
there's money everywhere, andthen cocaine going everywhere,
and then the kid runs across I-5.
He starts running across I-5.
And so hat story too.
I had my hat on at the time,because as a trooper you always
have your hat on, and so I'mrunning after this kid right
(13:41):
away.
When my hat flies off, I'mlooking back and he gets run
over by a semi.
Oh no, and I'm like dang it.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:46):
Oh, now you're even.
Now you're really mad.
We can trouble.
Officer William Brindza (13:49):
Loose my hat so he runs across
southbound lanes, jumpsguardrail, jumps guardrail, runs
across northbound lanes, jumpsguardrail down into brush.
And basically I was right ontop of him.
I tackle him, I get him intocustody and the kid, he's
yelling at the script.
He's like I'm sorry, I'm sorry,I shouldn't have ran, you know.
(14:10):
And then I'm like lookingbehind me and I'm he's yelling
at the scrimpter.
He's like I'm sorry, I'm sorry,I shouldn't have ran.
And then I'm looking behind meand I'm like where's Joe?
I'm sure he put his dog away.
I had another trooper there too,but he stayed with the other
two guys.
I'm like nobody came to run.
And I'm sitting there thinking,man, I did that pretty.
You know, I'm not even winded.
This CrossFit thing works.
(14:30):
And like five minutes later Ipicked this guy up, walk over
the guardrail and here comes Joeand he's like what the heck man
, that was awesome.
And he's like what have youbeen doing?
How are you not like?
And I was like I've been doingCrossFit man Like, I feel great.
He's like.
So when I opened my gym, joewas one of my first clients and
stayed with it for a while.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (14:51):
You even mentioned that you were
level three.
What is?
Officer William Brindza (14:55):
So CrossFit coaches have to get
certification and there's alevel one, a level two and a
level three.
There's actually a level fourtoo.
Your level one is like yourbasic broad topic certification.
It's two days.
They give you a study guide,you go in.
(15:17):
It's a lot of academic too.
You have to take a test, butthey put you through three
workouts in two days and theyshow you how to run a class, how
to manage a class, and then thebiggest thing is how to scale
the movements for all types ofability levels, and that's
really what we're looking to dohere too, to keep it safe.
The level twos is a lot more indepth, especially in your
(15:42):
demonstration, presentation,leadership skills on how to
actually run a class.
And that's another.
I think it's two or three days.
They give you a study guide.
Again, you have to pass anothertest and you have to do a lot
of demonstration and explanationof movements in small groups.
(16:03):
They break you up in smallgroups and then they critique
you.
It's kind of brutal, but it'sall growth right it's all to
grow as a leader and managingclasses, demonstrating the
movements, all that kind ofstuff.
And then the level three isstrictly a test.
It takes about three to sixhours depending on how good you
are in the test realm, but Imean it is, you know, I think
(16:28):
it's 450 questions that aregraded and 500 questions total.
It may be less than that nowwhen I first did it.
It's been, it's been years.
I just redid it last year, Ibelieve.
Believe, yeah, but it'sstrictly a test on anatomy,
medical, all of the movements,crossfit philosophy, a lot of
(16:53):
like life coaching, lifecounseling type stuff.
Yeah, it kind of encompasseseverything in wellness.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (17:00):
Did it take a long time to prepare
yourself?
Officer William Brindza (17:02):
Yes, the first time I took it, I
literally studied about sixmonths for it and it was hard,
it was still hard.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (17:10):
I saw this week we got an email about
new CrossFit coaches.
Yes, so what level will they becertified in?
Officer William Brindza (17:16):
Yeah, very excited about this.
We have five officers that willgo to level one certification
off the bat so they'll help yourun the workouts.
Yes.
So the goal would be to getthem trained up, get them
comfortable leading a class, andthe number one thing again is
modifications.
How do I modify this for allability levels?
(17:38):
Previous injuries, currentinjuries, and then you know
there's even more considerations, because if we get, I've had a
few graveyard officers come inthe morning after work.
That's a totally differentthing, that's rough Than when
you've slept, and so you need toknow how to modify that, how to
have the consideration for whatthey where they're at, coming
(18:01):
up 12 hour shift.
Yeah, so they'll be level onecertified and they'll also
shadow.
They'll coach with me.
I'll coach with them untilthey're comfortable.
That's super cool, yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:14):
Very exciting so you do a ton for the
department Like what do you doto you know in your free time?
I mean, I hear you're a scratchgolfer.
Is there truth to this?
Officer William Brindza (18:25):
Yes, I'm a good golfer, and not as
good as my son.
Yes, I've heard that too.
I enjoy golf.
It's probably, yeah, more of arelaxation thing for me, and
getting out on the course Ienjoy peace and quiet.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:38):
It's the opposite for me.
I usually I go play and I'mlike, usually after one or two
holes I'm like how do I playthis two-game game?
I'm ready to break my glovesand go back to the house and
quit man.
Officer William Brindza (18:50):
I have some of the same thoughts, but
golf's one of those things likea lot of things in life, it's
rewarding when you get that onegood shot.
When you finally figure it out.
It's rewarding.
I enjoy golf because I thinkit's just such a challenge.
It's so hard to master it, it'sjust you too.
It's just me right.
(19:10):
You can't rely on anyone else,so it takes a lot of time and
energy and focus, but I enjoy it.
My son is really good at golf.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (19:21):
He just came from Atlanta.
Yeah, my son is really good atgolf.
Officer William Brindza (19:23):
He just came from Atlanta, yeah, so we
just went to Atlanta, georgia,to a place called I believe it's
called the Kingdom at Reynoldsand it's like their full fitting
facility so they willcompletely fit the kids and the
pros, so they do elite juniors,elite amateurs and pros there
(19:44):
and the public.
You can sign up and pay theirfee to get fitted.
So we went there.
It took about three to fourhours of just tinkering with
clubs All the way through thebag putter too, and so he's
going to get new clubs here in afew weeks, wow that's exciting.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:01):
That's really cool.
They'd look at me and be likewe ain't got nothing for you
here, man.
Officer William Brindza (20:05):
Oh, they'd figure it out.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:07):
They'd give me a putt-putt-putter and
say have fun, yeah, they'dfigure it out, so it's been
really fun to travel.
Officer William Brindza (20:14):
My son is homeschooled right now and
he's just focused on that inschool, so it allows us to
travel.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:20):
So he's golfing daily.
Officer William Brindza (20:22):
Every day he's on a golf course.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (20:24):
Wow .
Officer William Brindza (20:25):
Most of the time from the same tees.
He's probably going to beat me.
So I'm like close to a zerohandicap.
I hang out a zero or a one,he's a plus one.
So that means he's shooting atleast a stroke or two better
than me 12 years old.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:41):
Oh, 12 years old.
He has so much to learn still,even I know it's depressing.
Officer William Brindza (20:47):
It's okay though.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:49):
Yeah, the opportunity started a lot
younger than you.
Yeah, you're stronger still,right.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (20:53):
Yeah , so do you have anything that
you can share about Allen?
Officer William Brindza (20:57):
Yeah, number one, I would say this
community is very supportive ofour police department.
It's much appreciated.
I have worked in areas beforewhere that's not the case and so
as a lateral, we feel it.
(21:18):
One story is this will tell youthe danger of what we do here,
even here in Allen, is that wehad a report of a wrong way
driver.
One night I was workinggraveyard, going north down the
southbound lanes.
It was coming up from Stacy, soit's coming north from Stacy in
the southbound lanes and Ijumped on a McDermott and, sure
enough, here comes this thingand it's in the dang left lane
(21:42):
and the report was it's goingvery slow.
And when I'm looking at itcoming up towards me I'm like,
yeah, this thing's going veryslow.
It was probably going 20 milesan hour.
This is like one in the morningor two in the morning.
First thing I remember this isdrunk driver, got back on the
highway the wrong way, doesn'tknow, doesn't know where it's
going, and uh, so I get over inleft lane and this thing is
coming at me and I'm like herewe go, I'm gonna have to take it
(22:03):
head on because you have tostop it.
You don't want it, it's gonnahit somebody in the left lane a
high rate of speed, you know.
Everyone in the left lane isgoing at least 70, more like 80
and uh.
So I'm ready to take this thingon, turn my lights on.
It's approaching me and you andI think the lights got the
driver and we slowed down andliterally comes to a slow stop
(22:31):
right in front of me oh mygoodness, barely taps the front
push bumper and then I get outand sure enough, the driver was
really intoxicated.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (22:42):
We just take him into custody right away
type of thing, the fact you'reyou're willing to go ahead and,
like I gotta say, I mean it's arisk to all those other voters
yeah, I mean that's.
Officer William Brindza (22:53):
I think that specific scenario probably
comes up in our career at leastonce or twice yeah and so um,
but I've had a very positiveexperience here at Allen.
Like I said, the community isamazing here.
You're a Texan now.
I'm a Texan now.
Yeah, that's right baby.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (23:12):
So what's new in your unit?
Officer William Brindza (23:14):
In the traffic unit.
I mean, some of the thingswe're doing that people may not
know is we do these trafficinitiatives where we partner
with uh outside agencies such asDPS, collin County, mckinney,
um, and maybe some otheragencies, where we do, uh, you
call them traffic saturations on75 and the tollway, so we're
(23:38):
trying to slow people down, um,and also uh deter uh dangerous,
reckless driving.
So the the vehicles are in andout of traffic at a high rate of
speed, no turn signalsfollowing too close, um, and so
we saturate it with a bunch ofofficers and just I mean we're
(23:58):
just stopping everybody we can,yeah, um, and not necessarily
giving citations, but being apresence out there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:06):
Slowing people down, just being a
presence.
It's not uncommon to see tripledigit speeds up on.
Officer William Brindza (24:12):
It's not uncommon at all, Any time of
the day.
You're going to see it within30 minutes.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:16):
That's scary.
Officer William Brin (24:16):
Especially on the toll road because it's a
lot more open than 75.
75 is kind of hard because thetraffic is usually pretty
saturated.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:22):
Well, I think if y'all keep that up, the
word will spread.
Slow down Going through CollinCounty is what we want it to get
to.
We want this to spread to otheragencies, other cities, and
just safe driving.
Officer William Brindza (24:35):
Yeah.
So I would say that's probablythe biggest thing.
That's maybe new.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (24:42):
If you could tell the community
one thing.
Officer William Brindza (24:44):
what would it be?
Well, I would stress that thepolice department is on a great
path right now to where ChiefDye has really pushed this
leadership of FitForce keepingour officers healthy well, not
only physically but mentally andspiritually and helping us with
(25:07):
.
We also dive into the financialpart of it.
Which you have to understandabout officers is we're so much
different with the way we aredeployed.
If you think about specialoperations or military that get
deployed overseas, yeah, they'reall ramped up at that time, but
they get to come back home andramp down.
(25:28):
Officers are deployed all yearlong.
So from week to week, weexperience things that the
normal person doesn't.
So our path as the as allenpolice department is on the
right.
We are doing everythingpossible to make our people well
and that is going to show inthe service we give to our
(25:50):
citizens, and there's no doubtabout it, and I've already seen
it with our guys and just theway we are communicating with
each other and with the public.
So the path is right, we've gotto stay on it, and I think
that's the public.
So the path is right, we got tostay on it and that's I think
that's the goal.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (26:07):
We're going to be the fittest police
department around.
That's right, that's the goal.
Outreach Coordinator Alex (26:11):
We'll be one shape now.
Officer William Brindza (26:12):
Yes, there's a lot of participation.
You know people are wanting todo this now.
Outreach Coordinator Al (26:18):
They're that drive.
Officer William Brindza (26:20):
Yes, so it's like you show them the way
they'll do it right.
Yes, so it's like you show themthe way they'll do it right,
and that's really what'shappened lately.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (26:26):
And it's available for them.
It's free.
Why not take?
Officer William Brind (26:29):
advantage of it.
It's crazy Basically, you'rethe member of a CrossFit gym for
free.
That's one of the things thatreally is.
A barrier is money.
Crossfit gyms aren't cheap.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (26:40):
No.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (26:41):
Same thing with the boxing gym.
I mean they can get in thereand train as well.
I mean there's so manyopportunities here.
Officer William Brindza (26:45):
Yeah, you mentioned the boxing gym.
I mean, it's another thing forthe community to know, like not
only are we taking care of ourofficers to better serve the
community, but we are reachingout into community and we're
bringing in these youth andreally showing them how to work
hard, discipline, how tointeract with police officers
you know, giving them a littleeducation of what we do every
(27:08):
day and how we take care ofourselves.
I mean, there's no better wayto do it.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (27:12):
Great relationships being built, a
hundred percent.
Well, we appreciate you comingon today.
Officer William Brindza (27:16):
Thanks for having me.
Thank you so much.
A lot of fun.
Officer Sam Rippamon (27:18):
Appreciate you guys For those listening
and watching.
If there's any of thisinformation or events you want
to know more about, you can goto our allenpoliceorg website
and all that information islisted there.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (27:29):
Yeah , and make sure to like and
subscribe, and if you have anyquestions, leave them in the
comments below.
Welcome back to another episode of Allen
Police.
Behind the Badge, we're yourhosts, officer Sam Rippamonti
and Alexus Birmingham.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (00:08):
And today our guest is Officer Will
Brindza.
Thank you for joining us.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:11):
Thanks for having me Tell us a little
bit about who Will Brindza is asfar as a person, not so much an
officer.
We'll get into all that.
Officer William Brindza (00:18):
Yes, sir, I was born in Camp Lejeune,
north Carolina.
My dad was a career Marine, soI lived there till I was like 12
years old.
My dad retired and then wemoved out to Portland, Oregon,
area.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:31):
Okay.
Officer William Brindza (00:31):
And I lived there until college.
I was a sports kid baseball,basketball, football Loved
sports, always active, alwaysworking out, was always
interested in law enforcementand like military employment
when I was getting older.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:52):
So that sparked my interest in that.
So how long have you been inTexas?
Officer William Brindza (00:56):
Been in Texas about four years now.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:59):
Consider yourself a Texan.
Yet I'm getting there.
I hope I can Work on that Texanaccent.
Officer William Brindza (01:16):
Yeah, I need to work on that.
So what'd you do, were you anofficer in Oregon?
When you go to Academy, it'svery boot camp-ish.
It's actually on a reserve base.
I think it's Army NationalGuard out in Astoria Oregon.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:30):
Okay.
Officer William Brindza (01:31):
And so you're isolated Oof and it's the
whole meal deal.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:35):
You don't get to go home at night.
Officer William Brindza (01:37):
You don't get to go home at all, no,
and you live in barracks andyou live that whole paramilitary
life.
But it instills the disciplineand it's kind of a controlled,
you know stress environment typeacademy.
Yeah, as a trooper I was veryfortunate in gaining a lot of
(01:57):
experience.
I was a field training officer,taught defensive tactics.
I was a SWAT officer for um along time.
Also was on a mobile responseteam, which is like a riot squad
, um.
I spent a stint as a majorcrimes detective, also taught
health and wellness at ouracademies.
Oh nice, I would teach uhrecruits just basic health and
(02:22):
wellness fitness.
Also on a team called theCritical Incident Response Team,
which was a you could think ofit as a peer support team that
went out in the field wheneverwe had officer-involved
shootings, major incidents or ifwe had a troop having some type
of a you know personal issue orissue at work that needed that
(02:43):
peer support.
So I did that for a long timeas well.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (02:46):
Do you have any good stories you
can share about, like when youwere a trooper?
Officer William Brindza (02:49):
Yes, I have lots of stories.
You know, I worked in a metroarea the Portland metro area for
about nine to 10 years and thenI was a detective and then I
went in the rural area.
So I have had the experiencesof the city and the rural and
I've got all kinds of funnystories and depressing stories.
(03:12):
To be honest, as a trooper likeI said, it's kind of
paramilitary You're always readyto get deployed somewhere in
the state and especially as aSWAT officer, I got deployed all
over the state for all kinds ofmajor incidents.
Some funny stuff that came tomind we had a bad snowstorm one
year, and I'm talking like twofeet of snow.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (03:33):
Like real snow, not like Texas snow,
real snow.
Officer William Brindza (03:35):
So I mean a ton of snow and then it
got warm really fast.
So all this snow melted and wehad flooding problems.
And so I'm going downInterstate 5 and I take an exit
and I know that at the next exit, underneath the overpass, it
gets it's like a low point andit is, I mean, 5-6 feet of water
(03:59):
.
There's no way a car can getthrough it.
And I come up to a stop signit's a 4 way stop and on my
right there's this little HondaAcc.
Get through it.
And I came up to a stop signit's a four-way stop and on my
right there's this little HondaAccord that stops and I'm
looking in it and there's twoyoung kids in it.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (04:09):
Don't do it.
Officer William Brindza (04:10):
And I'm sitting there going.
Is he gonna go straight?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (04:13):
Oh, my goodness.
Officer William Brindza (04:14):
So he goes straight and I watch him go
in the water and I watch himstall out and then I watched
both of them get out and theycould have waited the other way,
but they wait back.
And so I contact them and thedriver is a 19-year-old kid and
he's intoxicated.
Oh my goodness, he's drunk as askunk and I remember just
(04:42):
giving the guy a little bit ofcomedy to him, Because if you
just go the other way, bud, likeI never contact you.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (04:48):
You never get arrested.
Now you're going to jail.
Officer William Brindza (04:50):
So that's one of the stories.
Me and I have all kinds ofstories.
If you want to talk aboutCrossFit, eventually, and
fitness, I have a good storyabout that too, oh yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (05:01):
I want to know do y'all wear hats?
We wear hats, trooper hats,campaign hats.
So, people listening, I needy'all to comment in and let us
know.
Do we need hats here in Allen?
I think we need hats, I thinkwe do.
What kind of hats, though, isthe question?
Cowboy hats, cowboy hats allthe way?
Yeah, 100%.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (05:16):
So what brought you to Allen?
Officer William Brindza (05:18):
Well, I have some family here.
I have a cousin and some otherfamily.
My parents moved to East Texasand my wife and I visited here
several times some friends andmy family and we just loved it.
We love the country, feel it'sa lot more laid back.
The schools are really goodhere overall.
(05:39):
It's just a different vibe andit kind of fit both our
personalities.
So we just fell in love with itand the second we came, the
second we landed here.
We're like that's where we'regoing.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (05:51):
So what do you do for the
department?
Officer William Brindza (05:53):
So, uh, my primary duty is, uh, through
the traffic team, I'm acommercial vehicle inspector, so
I enforce uh state and federalcommercial vehicle law.
Um, and now I'm heading up ourinitiative on fitness and I am a
level three CrossFit instructor, and through CrossFit we
(06:15):
created a affiliate of CrossFitcalled CrossFit Virtue, and so
I'm the head coach of that, andso we have classes mostly in the
morning right now for ourofficers, I participated in one
of those workouts last week.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:30):
It's the first CrossFit workout I've
ever done.
I've always been scared of it.
It's just because I don't knowa lot about it, right, and it
was everything and more than Iexpected.
I was sore for a few days, butit was a good soreness, yeah, so
I'm excited to get back inthere.
I know we have a lot of guysall the way up to our assistant
chief that are taking yourclasses.
Officer William Brindza (06:52):
Yes, Our two morning classes are
actually very busy.
Didn't mention, I owned aCrossFit gym in Wilsonville,
oregon, for about nine and ahalf-ish years and when I moved
to Texas I sold it to one of mycoaches and they're still doing
really, really well.
I think that we just hit 13years, total 13 or 14 years.
So it's not new to me to run agym.
(07:14):
It's not new to me if likescheduling and teaching and
coaching and all that.
So our first two classes of theday 5.30 AM to 6.30 AM on most
days where we are teaching thosefrom Monday through Thursday,
we're having those classes andthe 5.30 am is consistently
about 7 to 13, maybe 15 peoplethat's awesome, officers and the
(07:38):
6.30 is pretty consistent fromlike 5 to 10 people.
So just those first two classes.
I mean we're getting you know agood 10% of the department.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (07:49):
Yeah, that's, that's a great.
That's a great start.
I think it'll continue to build, because you know words, get
now you know how good theworkouts are and you're not.
You're not just going in thereand killing us either, and so
I've learned with CrossFit theworkouts can be very tailored to
your you know fitness level.
Officer William Brindza (08:08):
So that was good to know going in.
Yeah, I mean, our overall goalis, um, to support our officers
through their duties, right, getthem more physically fit.
Uh, to perform their duties,but just overall health, you
know, uh, chief Dye is reallyinto um.
You're not just a number hereat Allen PD, you're not just the
(08:28):
badge number.
We care about our officers andwe want them to live happy lives
outside of police work and whenwe retire we want to still have
, you know, life left in us togo do the things we want to do.
Officer Sam Rippamon (08:41):
Absolutely Hang out with our family for
years to come, and the fitnessis just one of the cornerstones
of this FitForce program.
You also oversee that as well.
Officer William Brindza (08:53):
Yeah, I'm a big part of the FitForce
program.
We develop the fitness teststhat we're taking in October
every year.
But you know there's differentpieces to the FitForce the
spiritual, the financial, themental and I'm a part of the
peer support team here as welland that's been great.
Not only were we having successhelping our officers, but we've
(09:16):
been fortunate to go to otherdepartments and help them as
well Multiple departmentsactually in the area and go help
officers navigate through.
You know the emotions ofofficer-involved shootings,
officer deaths.
You know personal things on andon there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:39):
Yeah, and that's always been the thing
Officers don't like to talkabout stuff they're going
through, but I feel like moreand more you know that we're
evolving and people are moreopen to.
I think it's 53 or 54 percentmore likely to commit suicide.
Officer William Brindza (10:10):
And that is a huge stat compared to
you know, your normal citizen.
And that's because we deal withso much trauma, so much emotion
and we're human.
So how do we cope with thosethings?
So peer support, honestly, is alot of just how can I help my
(10:31):
fellow officer cope withwhatever they're going through?
And a lot of that, can you know, a normal citizen can relate to
, because they go through a lotof the same stuff.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:41):
Got to talk about it.
Yes, you do so.
You said you had a funny or aninteresting CrossFit story.
Officer William Brindza (10:47):
Yes, so I've always been an athlete.
I was a college baseball player, university Pacific in Stockton
, california, so you know I hadathletics in my background.
I was in pretty good shape whenI graduated college, but when I
went to Academy which was nottoo long after I graduated, but,
(11:08):
um, I wasn't in shape.
And so when I got, I gotthrough Academy right, which was
fine, cause I've been anathlete and you just adapt Um.
But when I got on the on theroad, I started, you know,
realizing I gotta get bettershape.
So I actually went to um, anMMA gym, and on Saturdays they
(11:29):
would run CrossFit classes, andthis is in 2007.
So CrossFit was kind of likepretty new, pretty brand new, so
we would do the workout of theday from the CrossFitcom and I
was like this is awesome, and Ihad probably been doing it for
like two months and I wasworking nights and I stopped the
vehicle pretty late at night,it was probably like one in the
(11:50):
morning.
It was going South Island I-5.
I remember this distinctly justoutside of Portland it was a
California plated Chevy Impalaand it had tinted out windows.
There was three individualsinside.
Anyway, I had indicators ofpossible criminal activities.
I got them out of the car and Iwas working with one of our
(12:11):
drug canines.
His name was Joe, and so Joebrought the drug canine, beckett
, sent it to the canine and runsthe canine around the car and
the canine gets on the trunk andhe opens up the trunk and
there's a bag like a gym bagthat's pretty much is flopped
open and there's like five orsix crown royal bags, purple
(12:33):
crown royal bags, and one of thebags is like pretty much open.
It's not cinched up and the dogjumps up in there and gets his
nose inside this thing and Imean that cocaine is like going
everywhere.
And so joe turns around andhe's like hey, whose bag is this
wear?
(12:53):
And so joe turns around andhe's like hey, whose bag is this
?
So this kid one of the kids is19 years old is like what bag?
And and joe's like this bag.
And so what bag?
So the kid walks up to thetrunk and like, looking back on,
I was like I shouldn't let thatkid do that.
Joe said the same thing, like Idon't know what I was, but he
was like so flabbergasted thatthis is just open bag of dope
here.
And the kid walks up to the carand then he's like what bag?
(13:18):
He grabs like two or three ofthe bags and he goes to like
this and Joe kind of grabs hisarm and I mean money is in one,
there's money everywhere, andthen cocaine going everywhere,
and then the kid runs across I-5.
He starts running across I-5.
And so hat story too.
I had my hat on at the time,because as a trooper you always
have your hat on, and so I'mrunning after this kid right
(13:41):
away.
When my hat flies off, I'mlooking back and he gets run
over by a semi.
Oh no, and I'm like dang it.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:46):
Oh, now you're even.
Now you're really mad.
We can trouble.
Officer William Brindza (13:49):
Loose my hat so he runs across
southbound lanes, jumpsguardrail, jumps guardrail, runs
across northbound lanes, jumpsguardrail down into brush.
And basically I was right ontop of him.
I tackle him, I get him intocustody and the kid, he's
yelling at the script.
He's like I'm sorry, I'm sorry,I shouldn't have ran, you know.
(14:10):
And then I'm like lookingbehind me and I'm he's yelling
at the scrimpter.
He's like I'm sorry, I'm sorry,I shouldn't have ran.
And then I'm looking behind meand I'm like where's Joe?
I'm sure he put his dog away.
I had another trooper there too,but he stayed with the other
two guys.
I'm like nobody came to run.
And I'm sitting there thinking,man, I did that pretty.
You know, I'm not even winded.
This CrossFit thing works.
(14:30):
And like five minutes later Ipicked this guy up, walk over
the guardrail and here comes Joeand he's like what the heck man
, that was awesome.
And he's like what have youbeen doing?
How are you not like?
And I was like I've been doingCrossFit man Like, I feel great.
He's like.
So when I opened my gym, joewas one of my first clients and
stayed with it for a while.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (14:51):
You even mentioned that you were
level three.
What is?
Officer William Brindza (14:55):
So CrossFit coaches have to get
certification and there's alevel one, a level two and a
level three.
There's actually a level fourtoo.
Your level one is like yourbasic broad topic certification.
It's two days.
They give you a study guide,you go in.
(15:17):
It's a lot of academic too.
You have to take a test, butthey put you through three
workouts in two days and theyshow you how to run a class, how
to manage a class, and then thebiggest thing is how to scale
the movements for all types ofability levels, and that's
really what we're looking to dohere too, to keep it safe.
The level twos is a lot more indepth, especially in your
(15:42):
demonstration, presentation,leadership skills on how to
actually run a class.
And that's another.
I think it's two or three days.
They give you a study guide.
Again, you have to pass anothertest and you have to do a lot
of demonstration and explanationof movements in small groups.
(16:03):
They break you up in smallgroups and then they critique
you.
It's kind of brutal, but it'sall growth right it's all to
grow as a leader and managingclasses, demonstrating the
movements, all that kind ofstuff.
And then the level three isstrictly a test.
It takes about three to sixhours depending on how good you
are in the test realm, but Imean it is, you know, I think
(16:28):
it's 450 questions that aregraded and 500 questions total.
It may be less than that nowwhen I first did it.
It's been, it's been years.
I just redid it last year, Ibelieve.
Believe, yeah, but it'sstrictly a test on anatomy,
medical, all of the movements,crossfit philosophy, a lot of
(16:53):
like life coaching, lifecounseling type stuff.
Yeah, it kind of encompasseseverything in wellness.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (17:00):
Did it take a long time to prepare
yourself?
Officer William Brindza (17:02):
Yes, the first time I took it, I
literally studied about sixmonths for it and it was hard,
it was still hard.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (17:10):
I saw this week we got an email about
new CrossFit coaches.
Yes, so what level will they becertified in?
Officer William Brindza (17:16):
Yeah, very excited about this.
We have five officers that willgo to level one certification
off the bat so they'll help yourun the workouts.
Yes.
So the goal would be to getthem trained up, get them
comfortable leading a class, andthe number one thing again is
modifications.
How do I modify this for allability levels?
(17:38):
Previous injuries, currentinjuries, and then you know
there's even more considerations, because if we get, I've had a
few graveyard officers come inthe morning after work.
That's a totally differentthing, that's rough Than when
you've slept, and so you need toknow how to modify that, how to
have the consideration for whatthey where they're at, coming
(18:01):
up 12 hour shift.
Yeah, so they'll be level onecertified and they'll also
shadow.
They'll coach with me.
I'll coach with them untilthey're comfortable.
That's super cool, yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:14):
Very exciting so you do a ton for the
department Like what do you doto you know in your free time?
I mean, I hear you're a scratchgolfer.
Is there truth to this?
Officer William Brindza (18:25):
Yes, I'm a good golfer, and not as
good as my son.
Yes, I've heard that too.
I enjoy golf.
It's probably, yeah, more of arelaxation thing for me, and
getting out on the course Ienjoy peace and quiet.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:38):
It's the opposite for me.
I usually I go play and I'mlike, usually after one or two
holes I'm like how do I playthis two-game game?
I'm ready to break my glovesand go back to the house and
quit man.
Officer William Brindza (18:50):
I have some of the same thoughts, but
golf's one of those things likea lot of things in life, it's
rewarding when you get that onegood shot.
When you finally figure it out.
It's rewarding.
I enjoy golf because I thinkit's just such a challenge.
It's so hard to master it, it'sjust you too.
It's just me right.
(19:10):
You can't rely on anyone else,so it takes a lot of time and
energy and focus, but I enjoy it.
My son is really good at golf.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (19:21):
He just came from Atlanta.
Yeah, my son is really good atgolf.
Officer William Brindza (19:23):
He just came from Atlanta, yeah, so we
just went to Atlanta, georgia,to a place called I believe it's
called the Kingdom at Reynoldsand it's like their full fitting
facility so they willcompletely fit the kids and the
pros, so they do elite juniors,elite amateurs and pros there
(19:44):
and the public.
You can sign up and pay theirfee to get fitted.
So we went there.
It took about three to fourhours of just tinkering with
clubs All the way through thebag putter too, and so he's
going to get new clubs here in afew weeks, wow that's exciting.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:01):
That's really cool.
They'd look at me and be likewe ain't got nothing for you
here, man.
Officer William Brindza (20:05):
Oh, they'd figure it out.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:07):
They'd give me a putt-putt-putter and
say have fun, yeah, they'dfigure it out, so it's been
really fun to travel.
Officer William Brindza (20:14):
My son is homeschooled right now and
he's just focused on that inschool, so it allows us to
travel.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:20):
So he's golfing daily.
Officer William Brindza (20:22):
Every day he's on a golf course.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (20:24):
Wow .
Officer William Brindza (20:25):
Most of the time from the same tees.
He's probably going to beat me.
So I'm like close to a zerohandicap.
I hang out a zero or a one,he's a plus one.
So that means he's shooting atleast a stroke or two better
than me 12 years old.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:41):
Oh, 12 years old.
He has so much to learn still,even I know it's depressing.
Officer William Brindza (20:47):
It's okay though.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:49):
Yeah, the opportunity started a lot
younger than you.
Yeah, you're stronger still,right.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (20:53):
Yeah , so do you have anything that
you can share about Allen?
Officer William Brindza (20:57):
Yeah, number one, I would say this
community is very supportive ofour police department.
It's much appreciated.
I have worked in areas beforewhere that's not the case and so
as a lateral, we feel it.
(21:18):
One story is this will tell youthe danger of what we do here,
even here in Allen, is that wehad a report of a wrong way
driver.
One night I was workinggraveyard, going north down the
southbound lanes.
It was coming up from Stacy, soit's coming north from Stacy in
the southbound lanes and Ijumped on a McDermott and, sure
enough, here comes this thingand it's in the dang left lane
(21:42):
and the report was it's goingvery slow.
And when I'm looking at itcoming up towards me I'm like,
yeah, this thing's going veryslow.
It was probably going 20 milesan hour.
This is like one in the morningor two in the morning.
First thing I remember this isdrunk driver, got back on the
highway the wrong way, doesn'tknow, doesn't know where it's
going, and uh, so I get over inleft lane and this thing is
coming at me and I'm like herewe go, I'm gonna have to take it
(22:03):
head on because you have tostop it.
You don't want it, it's gonnahit somebody in the left lane a
high rate of speed, you know.
Everyone in the left lane isgoing at least 70, more like 80
and uh.
So I'm ready to take this thingon, turn my lights on.
It's approaching me and you andI think the lights got the
driver and we slowed down andliterally comes to a slow stop
(22:31):
right in front of me oh mygoodness, barely taps the front
push bumper and then I get outand sure enough, the driver was
really intoxicated.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (22:42):
We just take him into custody right away
type of thing, the fact you'reyou're willing to go ahead and,
like I gotta say, I mean it's arisk to all those other voters
yeah, I mean that's.
Officer William Brindza (22:53):
I think that specific scenario probably
comes up in our career at leastonce or twice yeah and so um,
but I've had a very positiveexperience here at Allen.
Like I said, the community isamazing here.
You're a Texan now.
I'm a Texan now.
Yeah, that's right baby.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (23:12):
So what's new in your unit?
Officer William Brindza (23:14):
In the traffic unit.
I mean, some of the thingswe're doing that people may not
know is we do these trafficinitiatives where we partner
with uh outside agencies such asDPS, collin County, mckinney,
um, and maybe some otheragencies, where we do, uh, you
call them traffic saturations on75 and the tollway, so we're
(23:38):
trying to slow people down, um,and also uh deter uh dangerous,
reckless driving.
So the the vehicles are in andout of traffic at a high rate of
speed, no turn signalsfollowing too close, um, and so
we saturate it with a bunch ofofficers and just I mean we're
(23:58):
just stopping everybody we can,yeah, um, and not necessarily
giving citations, but being apresence out there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:06):
Slowing people down, just being a
presence.
It's not uncommon to see tripledigit speeds up on.
Officer William Brindza (24:12):
It's not uncommon at all, Any time of
the day.
You're going to see it within30 minutes.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:16):
That's scary.
Officer William Brin (24:16):
Especially on the toll road because it's a
lot more open than 75.
75 is kind of hard because thetraffic is usually pretty
saturated.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (24:22):
Well, I think if y'all keep that up, the
word will spread.
Slow down Going through CollinCounty is what we want it to get
to.
We want this to spread to otheragencies, other cities, and
just safe driving.
Officer William Brindza (24:35):
Yeah.
So I would say that's probablythe biggest thing.
That's maybe new.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (24:42):
If you could tell the community
one thing.
Officer William Brindza (24:44):
what would it be?
Well, I would stress that thepolice department is on a great
path right now to where ChiefDye has really pushed this
leadership of FitForce keepingour officers healthy well, not
only physically but mentally andspiritually and helping us with
(25:07):
.
We also dive into the financialpart of it.
Which you have to understandabout officers is we're so much
different with the way we aredeployed.
If you think about specialoperations or military that get
deployed overseas, yeah, they'reall ramped up at that time, but
they get to come back home andramp down.
(25:28):
Officers are deployed all yearlong.
So from week to week, weexperience things that the
normal person doesn't.
So our path as the as allenpolice department is on the
right.
We are doing everythingpossible to make our people well
and that is going to show inthe service we give to our
(25:50):
citizens, and there's no doubtabout it, and I've already seen
it with our guys and just theway we are communicating with
each other and with the public.
So the path is right, we've gotto stay on it, and I think
that's the public.
So the path is right, we got tostay on it and that's I think
that's the goal.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (26:07):
We're going to be the fittest police
department around.
That's right, that's the goal.
Outreach Coordinator Alex (26:11):
We'll be one shape now.
Officer William Brindza (26:12):
Yes, there's a lot of participation.
You know people are wanting todo this now.
Outreach Coordinator Al (26:18):
They're that drive.
Officer William Brindza (26:20):
Yes, so it's like you show them the way
they'll do it right.
Yes, so it's like you show themthe way they'll do it right,
and that's really what'shappened lately.
Outreach Coordinator Alexus (26:26):
And it's available for them.
It's free.
Why not take?
Officer William Brind (26:29):
advantage of it.
It's crazy Basically, you'rethe member of a CrossFit gym for
free.
That's one of the things thatreally is.
A barrier is money.
Crossfit gyms aren't cheap.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (26:40):
No.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (26:41):
Same thing with the boxing gym.
I mean they can get in thereand train as well.
I mean there's so manyopportunities here.
Officer William Brindza (26:45):
Yeah, you mentioned the boxing gym.
I mean, it's another thing forthe community to know, like not
only are we taking care of ourofficers to better serve the
community, but we are reachingout into community and we're
bringing in these youth andreally showing them how to work
hard, discipline, how tointeract with police officers
you know, giving them a littleeducation of what we do every
(27:08):
day and how we take care ofourselves.
I mean, there's no better wayto do it.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (27:12):
Great relationships being built, a
hundred percent.
Well, we appreciate you comingon today.
Officer William Brindza (27:16):
Thanks for having me.
Thank you so much.
A lot of fun.
Officer Sam Rippamon (27:18):
Appreciate you guys For those listening
and watching.
If there's any of thisinformation or events you want
to know more about, you can goto our allenpoliceorg website
and all that information islisted there.
Outreach Coordinator Alexu (27:29):
Yeah , and make sure to like and
subscribe, and if you have anyquestions, leave them in the
comments below.
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