Tim Bradford

**Timothy "Tim" Bradford** is a main character on *The Rookie*, played by Eric Winter. He is assigned to the Mid-Wilshire Division where he worked as the training officer for Lucy Chen until Lucy was promoted in the episode "Amber". Bradford and Chen usually worked the 7-Adam-19 beat. Bradford's badge number during Seasons 1-3 was 34831, which he stated during a phone call in the episode "Casualties". When he is promoted to Sergeant I in Season 4, his job role is a Patrol Field Supervisor and his badge number is changed to 3483.

In Season 5 Bradford joins the Metro Unit (an LAPD armed response unit).

## Biography

### Season 1

Bradford is a tough training officer, who frequently springs tests on Chen in difficult situations. He speaks Spanish, as we hear in the pilot episode, and he was once Bishop's training officer, as we hear in "Flesh and Blood".

Bradford is highly competitive, as seen in "The Roundup", where he persuades Dispatch operator Nell Forester in order to give his team an advantage.

Bradford met his ex-wife, Isabel, when she was a Narcotics officer at another precinct; at the time the pilot airs, he has not seen her for over a year due to her drug addiction. In spite of his attitude of tough love, he tries to help her, giving her money and medication and standing up for her when he believes she's in a dangerous situation. When she eventually enters rehab treatment, he goes to visit her but ultimately decides that she's better off without him around and tells her, "This is the end."

In "Free Fall", Bradford is infected with the deadly virus as a result of infected bus passenger Peter Langston coughing blood onto him and he nearly dies after passing out in the front yard of Langston's house after being given an experimental vaccine.

### Season 2

In "Impact", Bradford suffers a seizure as a result of the experimental vaccine , but he ultimately recovers and returns to the police force two weeks later.

In "The Bet", Bradford begins dating Rachel Hall, a friend of Chen's, after Chen set them up on a date. As a result of Chen winning the bet, Bradford allows her to go back to wearing short sleeves after he had forced her to wear the long sleeves and a tie even after she passed the Midterm exam.

In "Safety", it is revealed that Bradford was a quarterback on his high school football team, and had played against Los Angeles Rams safety Eric Weddle, who had sacked him in the championship game. Weddle also states that Bradford chose Fallujah over going pro, hinting that Bradford spent time in the armed forces. Bradford also tells a young boy that his father was verbally abusive when he was growing up.

In "Clean Cut", after Bradford rear ends a woman while on patrol with Chen, she comes to his defense, and she and another officer discover that the woman and her boyfriend are scamming people for insurance money by disconnecting the brake lights on her car. As a result of this revelation, Bradford is allowed to receive a special award from the deputy chief along with West.

In "The Dark Side", Bradford is initially disapproving and suspicious of Caleb Wright, a man that Chen had met at a bar the previous night. However, Bradford later encourages Chen to go on a date with Wright to help relieve the stress of the Rosalind Dyer case. Unfortunately, Chen is later abducted during the date by Wright after he slips a sedative into her drink.

In "Day of Death", Bradford is horrified to learn of Chen's abduction, and he feels incredibly guilty about the entire situation. He also stops at nothing to get Chen back, even nearly assaulting several men that they believed were responsible for her abduction. When Bradford arrives at Chen's burial site, he is the first one to spot Chen's ring on the ground and he finds where she is buried, calling the other officers over to help him. After they are able to get Chen out of the barrel, Bradford performs CPR on her, saving her life. Afterwards, he spends the night by her bedside and even brings her favorite food for her to eat.

In "Now and Then", Bradford agrees to let Nyla Harper help Chen get past the trauma she suffered as a result of her abduction. He also stops by the weight room where Chen is training after their shift, and he commends her for surviving her kidnapping. He also returns the ring that he had found at her burial site to her.

In "Follow-Up Day", Bradford finds out he passed the sergeant's exam (8th out of 140) but decides to stay on as T.O. until Chen finishes her training.

In "Casualties", it is mentioned that Bradford served two tours in Afghanistan as a Sergeant. He also reunites with one of his former squadron members when a murder investigation leads them to the hotel room he is staying in.

In "Hand-Off", Colin Hall, Rachel's father, tries to discourage Bradford from dating her. Colin feels as if Bradford won't be able to be there for Rachel because of the type of job he has. Colin also reveals to Bradford that Rachel may have Huntington's disease, which could be fatal for her. These attempts to persuade him fail as Bradford reaffirms his commitment to Rachel at the conclusion of the episode.

In "Control", Bradford continues to blame himself for Chen's abduction after Chen meets a firefighter named Emmett Lang during a call. Bradford is hesitant to give her dating advice following advice he had given her before Caleb had kidnapped her. However, Chen tells Bradford that what had happened was not his fault.

In "Under the Gun", after Rachel makes a mistake in dealing with a mother and her sick child, Bradford has the situation resolved for her.

In "The Q Word", Rachel reveals to Bradford that she had taken her dream job. However, it's in New York City, meaning that she will be leaving soon. Bradford then spends this episode wondering about what he will do after Rachel is gone.

In "The Hunt", Bradford says goodbye to Rachel as she leaves for New York City. They were supposed to have one final dinner together, but Bradford had to work overtime so that he and Chen could help the others as they arrested Serj Derian. Bradford ends up pulling over her taxi cab and the two share one final kiss before Rachel has to leave, agreeing to try a long-distance relationship. However, by the beginning of season 3 it's apparent that their relationship is over.

### Season 3

When Angela Lopez is promoted to Detective, Jackson West is assigned a new T.O., Doug Stanton, who is quickly revealed to be a bully and a racist. Bradford excuses Stanton's behavior as typical hard-nosed cop attitude until Chen calls him on it, and Bradford backs West when West goes to talk to Sergeant Grey about Stanton. Bradford and Chen agree to shadow Stanton and West in an effort to bring real consequences against Stanton. Eventually Stanton is caught allowing West to be attacked and beaten without intervention, and Stanton is suspended.

When Chen extends a helping hand to a homeless young woman, Bradford congratulates her on her "first puppy" and seems amused by Chen's efforts.

In "Revelations", Bradford encounters an old friend, Mack Daniels, at a law enforcement function, and notices that Mack seems to be under the influence of some substance as well as cheating on his wife. Later, when Mack's wife tries to confront her husband at the hotel where the function is being held, Bradford finds him passed out from an overdose. By the end of the episode, Bradford has argued with Mack about getting help and reluctantly reports Mack for using on the job. Mack is suspended and goes to work as private security for a drug lord, but Bradford tells Mack he's going to help him through rehab, and Mack agrees.

When Lopez finds wedding planning tougher work than she has time for, she calls on Bradford to be her "man of honor", knowing that he'll not only get things done, but also avoid the social pitfalls of wedding planning (mainly by disregarding them). He pulls together a team of friends to help, and the wedding nearly goes on despite logistical disaster, but at the last minute Lopez is kidnapped by La Fiera and the wedding does not take place.

### Season 4

At the beginning of season 4, Bradford is promoted to Sergeant I and is taken under Wade Grey's mentorship. Bradford chooses Chen to be his aide, so they end up riding together more often than not.

In "Poetic Justice", Bradford meets Ashley McGrady, the daughter of a retiring officer, and they start dating.

### Season 5

In "The Fugitive", Bradford's injury from the "Pilot" is exacerbated, and he ends up in the hospital. Ashley, his girlfriend, breaks up with him after the surgery because she does not want to have to worry about him constantly with his dangerous job like with her father.

In "The Collar", Bradford and Chen talk about their feelings for one another after riding together again for the first time since their UC assignment, which leads to Bradford asking Chen out for dinner the first time. She tells him to ask her again after she breaks up with her boyfriend, Chris.

In "Take Back", Bradford takes over for Grey temporarily as the Watch Commander. He asks Chen out for a dinner again, to which she agrees, at the end of the episode.

In "The Naked and the Dead," Bradford's nephew is in need of a new little league baseball coach and his sister convinces him to step in until they can find a new one. He is encouraging with the players even though he thinks that they're terrible; trying to be better for them than his own father was when he coached his team.

In "Death Notice," after realizing that he cannot be objective when it comes to Chen, the two agree that one of them will have to transfer jobs. Lucy offers to put in a request to transfer to another station, but Bradford meets with Grey and admits to the relationship, accepting a desk job as a court liaison so that he and Lucy can stay at the same station.

## Personality

Bradford at first glance seems to be a tough-as-nails, no-nonsense cop, completely dedicated to the job and his 'sacred duty' to train new cops to be the best they can be. He would only enter moderately personal conversations with cops he had worked with for years, such as his fellow training officers, Talia Bishop and Angela Lopez who in turn helped him. It required the tact and sensitivity of his rookie Lucy Chen to get him to open up and it was her that would help to guide him through some difficult personal issues, such as events surrounding his addict ex-wife Isabel Bradford.

Growing up with an abusive father contributed to his toughness and strictness as a training officer. His time in the military before joining the LAPD added to this. Bradford was initially incredibly tough on Chen, issuing random tests to expose her shortcomings as an officer as well as to give her a dose of reality, something she did need as her nature was to be kind and compassionate at extreme levels, traits that cops cannot afford to have in some situations. Despite his tough approach to training, Bradford can show his own compassion where needed. When Chen got stuck with a used needle, his demeanor immediately shifted, becoming much more sensitive as he attempted to guide Chen through the procedure for getting stuck and the emotional fallout when she gets a severe dose of mortality anxiety in the immediate aftermath. He also completely changed his training plan for his temporary rookie Officer Barnes when he learns that she is also a former soldier, something he can relate to, before she decides to resign. While he knows that he shares some traits with his father, Bradford is determined to not be like him, becoming very upset when Chen meets his sister, who tells her of their father's tests as kids and Chen compares them to the 'Tim-tests' she was put through as a rookie. After confronting his father during a case, Tim shakily tells Chen that the 'Tim-tests' don't make him like his father, something that he is clearly terrified of.

His time spent with Chen while training her caused Bradford to soften a little over their time together, with Chen's natural compassion forcing Bradford to open up, although it was more through his annoyance and in an attempt to stop her talking, but she was still able to get through to him. Captain Anderson may have paired them together with this exact purpose as she may have believed that the pair complemented each other and could help each other become better cops. The pair grew close during Chen's rookie year and helped each other through multiple professional and personal crises, such as Chen helping Bradford study for the sergeant's exam when she preliminarily diagnoses him with a learning difficulty. Their closeness only increased after Rosalind Dyer's acolyte Caleb Wright kidnaps Chen and Bradford manages to find her buried alive just in time and continued to grow to currently unknown levels.

He also developed meaningful friendships with the other rookies Nolan and West in time through their training year and the short periods he spent training them when their own T.O. was unavailable and Chen was involved with something else, or when the rookies changed training officers for a short time a few months into the year. The same eventually became true of Officer Thorsen when he joins the station as Harper's rookie after Nolan completes his additional month as a rookie, having been held in the aftermath of the events surrounding now deceased LAPD Detective Nick Armstrong. Chen softening Bradford allowed him to cultivate better personal relationships which eventually helped him become a respected Sergeant in the Mid-Wilshire station before he later joined the Metro Division.

## Memorable Quotes

* *"You should; Because one thing I've learned all these years is that I'm never alone - And I'm never outnumbered."* (Season 1 Episode 15 "Manhunt")
* *"If you get dispatched to a loud party, make sure they know you're not the stripper."* (Season 4 Episode 5 "A.C.H.")

## Trivia

* Chen mentions in "Clean Cut" that Bradford has been with the LAPD for twelve years, and has been injured in the line of duty five times. This presumably includes the time he got shot in the Pilot episode.
* In the Pilot episode, Bradford tells Chen to translate something into Spanish for him, but then reveals that he speaks Spanish himself and could tell she changed his statement.
* He is strictest of the training officers, often giving Chen a hard time. This likely stems from his time as a Sergeant in the United States Army.
* Bradford used to serve as a Sergeant and a Squad Leader in the United States Army. He has completed one tour each in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* In "Safety", when Bradford and West were given the special assignment of coaching a football team, he mentions "Fallujah was safer than the NFL". This could suggest that Bradford served in either the First Battle of Fallujah or the Second Battle of Fallujah, both in 2004.
* Bradford passed the Sergeant's exam and planned to get promoted after Lucy passes her probationary period. He is promoted to Sergeant I in Five Minutes.
* His ex-wife is Isabel Bradford, a former Gangs & Narcotics detective.
* His former girlfriend Rachel Hall moved to New York City to pursue her dream job and he didn’t move with her; the relationship was discontinued shortly afterwards.
* He is an avid football fan, he once stopped a car chase that was happening near his home in order to resume his game.
* It is mentioned in "A.C.H.", that three years ago he was dispatched to a party on Halloween and had parts of his uniform torn off him after being mistaken for a male stripper, which amused his squad.
* It is mentioned in the episode "Hit and Run", his father Tom smashed Tim's head into a wall when Tim was 7 and, another time, left him at Griffith Park with only a compass to find his way home, which he did.

## Confirmed kills

* Officer Joel Chambers: A serial killer responsible for the death of three six-year-olds, including Blanca Juarez, the sister of current LAPD Officer Celina Juarez. Cause of death: Shot by a Glock 17.