Occupation: Detective
Partner(s):
None
Children:
None
Jamaal Bradford is a supporting character who makes his first appearance in The Probability of Time. He’s a young, enthusiastic detective in the Grimwick Police Department and partners with Liam Smart.
Early Life
Jamaal grew up in Grimwick. In his early teen years, he got involved with a rough group of gangbangers. After witnessing an attempted robbery go wrong, he decided to break free from that lifestyle. He worked at a coffee shop while taking night classes to earn his GED. Upon completion, he joined the Grimwick Police Department in an effort to try and get other kids like him off the streets.
Career
Bradford was one of the oldest recruits in his class at the Grimwick Police Academy. At 26, he was selected to join the detective corps and was transferred to the 20th precinct and partnered with veteran detective Liam Smart.
After a few run-of-the-mill cases, Jamaal and Liam are tasked with hunting down and identifying a potential Arrowhead Killer copycat at the beginning of The Probability of Time.
Personal Life
Jamaal’s mother passed away in a car accident when he was three years old. Overcome with grief, his father left Jamaal with his grandparents and left town – he was found a few weeks later dead in a motel.
Jamaal quickly fell into the wrong crowd. As he got older, he pledged his allegiance to a small street gang. Over time, the greed of the gang leaders led to bigger, more risky jobs. One such job was to rob a jewelry store, but it didn’t go as smooth as the leader predicted. As the getaway driver, Jamaal watched several friends get gunned down by police. After watching the bloodshed, he knew he needed to make a change in his life or he wasn’t going to live much longer.
Tim Koster 