Odessa Police Department highlights some of OPD officers and chaplain in celebration of Black History Month.
Honorees are:
Capt. Darryl Smith was raised on the south side of Odessa. He attended Ector High School until his Junior year. He ended up graduating from Permian High School.
Smith has been with the OPD for 29 years. He is part of the Command Team. However, he’s held several roles including serving in the Professional Standards Unit, SWAT Command, and Incident Commander.
Smith has been married for 19 years to his wife Kamye. They have six kids and three grandkids. He says what he likes most about the African American Culture is music, family, and religion. Smith said, “After starting my career, I noticed that there were not a lot of African Americans in Law Enforcement and I wanted to be that positive example so that others would choose the career that I love.”
Lt. Sherrie Carruth is one of the senior officers and has worked for the OPD for almost 30 years. She is a native West Texan, born and raised in Midland, graduating from Midland Lee High School. Carruth began her career with OPD in August of 1992, graduating from the Permian Basin Law Enforcement Academy. During her tenure, she has served as a Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Hostage Negotiator, Sergeant with the Patrol Services Bureau, and Public Information Officer with the Chief’s Office. In October of 2017, She was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and currently, commands the Criminal Investigation Division. Most importantly she says is her faith. She is a Christian and a very proud Aggie mom to son, Joshua Ryan, who graduated from Texas A&M University. Currently, he’s serving as a Naval Officer in the U.S. Navy. When it comes to the African American Culture, Carruth said, “I’m proud of family ties, upbringing, fellowship, and cooking, handed down by my great grandparents and grandparents. I miss my grandmothers, they were literally the glue that held the families together.”
Sgt. Tommy Jones, Jr. has been with OPD/City of Odessa for 25 years. Jones has worked for OPD for 17 years and is currently academy/training sergeant. He also juggles numerous jobs including being a SWAT team member, a SWAT sniper, and Honor Guard coordinator. He was born and raised in Odessa, graduated from Permian High School, and is in the process of obtaining his BA in Justice Studies/Criminal Justice. Jones is married to his amazing wife, Danielle, and they have five beautiful children together. He loves to learn about the African American Culture, especially from those who came before him. Jones said, “The elderly community, even without me asking, teaches me something about my heritage, and it’s always something new and fascinating. The wealth and knowledge that they share with you is irreplaceable and it should be captured and spoken about before that wonderful heritage information is gone.”
He would love to see the relationship between police and civilians grow even stronger.
“We train the young officers and recruits to create a great relationship with the citizens, because they are the ones, we swear in to serve and protect. Once we retire and move on, they are the ones that will be serving and protecting our families and community,” Jones said.
Mike Parrish is the City of Odessa’s director of information technology for seven years. His passion for technology came from tinkering with electronics out of necessity. He laughs about how he and his brother would often mess up his first computer, which of course took money to fix. So after spending enough money on it, he learned how to fix it himself. Parrish always stays on top of the latest technology trends and says the more technology evolves, the easier it makes life in technology support.
In his family, he says the most important things are faith, resiliency, and pride. Once they put their mind to something, they are going to work hard to accomplish it and make it happen! He attributes that to the roots of the African American Culture.
Faith, music, and good food. Parrish is a huge fan of his family’s Soul Food. Some of his favorite items: cornbread, catfish, and sweet potato pie.
Detective Whitney Branch has worked for OPD for seven years and is currently assigned to CID Persons Unit. Her primary responsibility is over the Sex Offender Registry.
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. Branch is also a graduate of Sam Houston State University, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice.
Branch is married to her strong and amazing wife Virjinia and is currently raising two outstanding kids, Kimberly and Antonio.
Cpl. Michael Hamilton has been with the Odessa Police Department for eight years and served in the military for five years in the United States Army. He is OPD’s Best Dancer. Back in the day he was on tour with T-Pain, and danced for countless shows, been in various music videos for multiple multi-platinum artists including T-Pain, Tech N9ne, Chris Brown, B2K, Omarion, and Ne-Yo just to name a few.
His motto: “Each one, teach one!” It takes a village! No matter who you are, you can teach good qualities and good lessons to others. He says, “We all have to watch out for each other.”
Cpl. Christopher Adams moved to Odessa when he was just four years old. He graduated from Odessa High School and says what really stands out about our city is that people are kind.
Adams is following in his grandfather’s footsteps who was also a police officer. He’s been with OPD for four years and is on our Bomb Squad. He also has a military background and is currently serving in the Air Force Reserve. He’s been doing that for the past five years. Before that, he served in the Marines for six years.
He has a unique background because he’s half African American/half caucasian. He says he embraces both sides and sees things in a different lens because of that.
As far as the African American Culture, he says he loves the food, resiliency, and creativity.
He’s been married for 11 years and has three young kids.
Christopher has a Dalmatian named Todd Benson Adams. Not a typical doggie name, but he laughed that his kids came up with the name.
Officer Jimmie Rainey was born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., and served six years in the Army National Guard.
Rainey is married to Hannah Rainey, and they have a 7-month-old daughter, Rebekah Rainey.
He graduated in the 18th session of the Odessa Police Academy, graduating in August of 2019, and has since been working out on patrol.
Rainey says he chose this career because he wanted to make a positive and meaningful difference in people’s lives.
He states, “Black History Month is important because America is a melting pot of all different races and cultures. Having months of recognition allows the people that live in this country to gain an understanding of fellow Americans experiences that they themselves have not experienced. It also offers an opportunity to recognize accomplishments of those in the respective month’s community.”
Chaplain Isaiah David Tunson Jr. has served as chaplain for OPD since 2020. He started a career in law enforcement 1987 that lasted for 10 years.
At 13-years-old, Tunson preached his first sermon and is currently pastor at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
