Frank Tripp



Francis "Frank" Tripp  Biographical information Occupation Family informationn Affiliation 

Detective Sergeant (Currently Lieutenant) Francis "Frank" Tripp is a Texan homicide detective who regularly accompanies the team to the crime scenes. He is portrayed by Rex Linn.

Personality
Frank is known for his short tempered, sarcastic personality. He has a quick wit and little patience for stupidity, so he is prone to lose his temper when suspects make up dumb answers to simple questions.

Background
Frank Tripp is from Texas. As a child, Tripp dreamed of being a firefighter. However, after his leg was shattered in a car accident, he fell in love with crime fiction during his many weeks' convalescence. Consequently, he joined the police force straight out of school, and was later transferred to MDPD's gang unit before moving to Homicide. Tripp frequently accompanies Horatio Caine and his team of CSIs to crime scenes, especially those that involve dangerous gangsters and criminals, as well as assisting them in serving warrants.

He has a gruff appreciation for the capabilities of the CSIs and their excellent results. He has a good working relationship with all the CSIs, particularly Calleigh. He is divorced, with three kids (episode 118, "Dispo Day"). He often uses sarcasm and shows disbelief at “modern terms” such as the cougar and the cub.

Season Six
Before the season six premiere, Tripp is promoted to sergeant and it's seen that he has shaved his head. After passing the Sergeant's Exam, Tripp was required to spend some time in uniform on a patrol rotation, but soon returned to the homicide unit and plainclothes duty (episode 611, "Guerillas in the Mist"). He finished his mandatory patrol rotation and is back in Homicide, where his new title is given as "MDPD Homicide Detective Sergeant Frank Tripp".

Relationships
The only one of Tripp's relationships that is mentioned in the show is a past marriage to his wife, Melissa, with whom he had three children, who remain unnamed. He divorced her after her alcoholism got out of hand. As their marriage deteriorates, she suspects him of cheating on her, and she hired a detective agency whose sole objective is to tempt men into cheating on their spouses and then report it. When the undercover investigator assigned to Frank is murdered, he becomes a suspect because the CSIs discover his fingerprints on her hotel room keycard. Eric Delko keeps Tripp's name quiet until he determines that Frank is not guilty of the murder, but Tripp is hurt by the suspicion nonetheless (episode 209, "Bait").