Black History Month – Detective Whitney Branch

Detective Whitney Branch works in our CID Persons Unit. She is a great asset to OPD and the community. Her primary responsibility is over the Sex Offender Registry.

Detective Branch was born and raised in Houston, and graduated from Elsik High School. She attended Sam Houston State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. She is married to her strong and amazing wife Virjinia and is currently raising two outstanding kids, Kimberly and Antonio.  

Detective Branch volunteers with the Special Olympics and is also a member of The Peer Support Critical Incident Team.

Black History was important to Detective Branch's 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 Detective Branch to keep fighting to be the best human being she can be and she says 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.”