Francis "Frank" Tripp was born in 1950 in Texas. Although Frank wanted to be a fire-fighter as a child, this career choice changed as he lay in the hospital after a car accident. Here he began to take an interest in criminal investigations, which led to him attending the police academy after high school.

Upon completion of the police academy, Frank Tripp (played by Rex Linn) first started his service as an officer, but was then assigned to the unit for gang-related crime in the Miami Dade Police Department.

Subsequently, he regretted his involvement in the Homicide Department. Tripp did not belong directly to the Crime Scene Investigations team. Rather, he is the supporting MDPD officers for the work of crime scene investigators.

In the first season of CSI: Miami, this responsibility was taken over by Detective Yelina Salas, Horatio Caine’s sister-in-law. After Detective Salas' resignation, Sergeant Tripp became part of the main characters list in the fifth season.

Tripp’s wife, Melissa, had a drinking problem, so it finally came to a divorce after this problem was growing. The couple has three children, of whom nothing more is known, however.

Frank Tripp is a fan of the Florida Gators, the American football team of the University of Florida. He is always surprised and fascinated by the work and the possibilities of crime scene investigations and has no problem admitting to understand nothing of their work. Still, he gets on very well with each member of the team. Apart from his failed marriage, nothing else is known about an eventual relationship.