Branche seeking post of Carbon County sheriff

My name is Richard Branche. I’m a veteran law enforcement officer with 38 years of service.

I was educated at Middlesex County Community College and Thomas Edison State College studying Criminal Justice Police Science.

During that time I worked in the East Brunswick Police Department NJ. I worked in the patrol division, later assigned to K-9 section. After that I would move to the special operations division, conducting background investigations for new applicants and training, then the Traffic division/supervisor of the Motorcycle Unit and the department’s Special Weapons and Tactics team. The final rung in my 30 years in NJ was as Range Master/Supervisor of the East Brunswick Training Facility.

After retiring I found myself back in law enforcement in South Carolina working for Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office as a supervisor in charge of training.

I have extensive training and instructor certifications in many areas including firearms, driving, defensive tactics, Axon Taser, alert active shooter/ breaching, ALS Less Lethal instructor, Master motorcycle Instructor Maryland state police, Incident Command and emergency response, Command and control of line staff. I received awards for my service, the Life Saving Award, Service Commendation Award, WTC Award, Meritorious Service Award, 2020 Training Officer of the Year State of South Carolina. My last stop was Carbon County Sheriff’s Office for 6 months.

My time away from law enforcement was spent with my wife Laura of 36 years, and our 4 grown children and 2 grandchildren.

I am running for Sheriff of Carbon County to instill a professional law enforcement attitude, integrity, and accountability to the position. I would do away with wasteful spending, present budgets that are responsible and in the best interest of county residents, institute policy and procedures that are up to date and in accordance with state and federal laws. Work towards keeping the officers the department currently has, ending the revolving door of young and veteran deputies leaving which in turn costs the county money. I will work with the local police departments and the citizens of Carbon County to address the issues at hand.

I’m being endorsed by Joseph Hager, retired Chief Deputy of the Carbon County Sheriff’s office who served the residents of Carbon County for 35 years. I am a lifelong Republican, not one which has switched parties within the past several months in order to stay in an elected office and take advantage of Republican voters.