About Wendell Stradford



1st Grade Detective Wendell Stradford is one of the original members of the Cold Case Squad. Before coming to Cold Case he worked for Jack Maple, the Deputy Commissioner of Operations, in a special unit called the Police Commissioner's Investigation Squad, the PC Squad for short. If a precinct was having problems, someone from the PC Squad was sent to help. They were the Cavalry. His other assignments include: Central Robbery, Special Investigations, the Street Crime Unit, and the Warrants Squad.

Wendell Stradford has tracked down and arrested a lot of bad guys. Since 1985, he has made 328 arrests, 23 of them while in Cold Case. He brought in another 74 suspects of murder or attempted murder in cases opened by other detectives who were unable to do so themselves.

Among his many commendations, Stradford received the Combat Cross in 1993 for a shooting, and later a Distinguished Duty commendation for apprehending a robbery suspect while getting stabbed in the process. He has a degree in Criminal Justice, and has taken classes in sex crimes, pick pocketing, an FBI Academy class in Urban Survival, and he attended Homicide School at John Jay.

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