Detective Whitney Branch has worked for OPD for 7 years and is currently assigned to CID Persons Unit. Her primary responsibility is over the Sex Offender Registry.
Detective Branch volunteers with the Special Olympics and is also a member of The Peer Support Critical Incident Team.
She was born and raised in Houston, and graduated from Elsik High School. Detective Branch also graduated from Sam Houston State University, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice.
Detective Branch is married to her strong and amazing wife Virjinia and is currently raising two outstanding kids, Kimberly and Antonio.
Black History was important to her upbringing as a child and every February she would assist her mother in educating church members about the contributors of Black History.
Detective Branch emphasized that her favorite part of Black History is learning how her ancestors overcame obstacles, turmoil, and oppression. Maya Angelou best said it in her poem Still I Rise: “You shoot me with your words. You may cut me with your eyes. You may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise.”
Black History has encouraged her to keep fighting to be the best human being she can be and her faith in God is why she is strong. Detective Branch prays that as a community, we all come together as one, not to celebrate one race, or one gender, but to celebrate us all as one community.
Remembering the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, “The Ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”