Angel Joseph
Staff Writer
Houston Police Chief Clarence O'Neal Bradford holds strong ideologies cultivated from an outstanding academic and professional background.
Bradford was invited by the African American Studies program Wednesday to the University of Houston to express his convictions and strategies for dealing with social issues he faces in his career.
Bradford, who operates in a peculiar school of thought, believes that everyone should not be treated the same. This is not to say that he is against the constitutional precepts - "all men are created equal"- that are the foundation of this country.
He supported his view with a hypothetical situation of two employees who reported to work late, one because of an emergency with a child and the other because of oversleeping.
Bradford believes in "individual accountability." That is, if we treat everyone the same, we do not allow for flexibility because people are not the same. They have different backgrounds, family and business resources.
"I am not going to treat everybody the same," Bradford said. Another of Bradford's convictions concerns the ever-controversial death penalty. He gave reference to the writings on civil authority in the biblical book of Romans as support for his belief.
"(The death penalty) is just how any civilized society keeps order," he said.
"There are people who over and over again demonstrate that they are not going to follow the rules."
Moreover, taxpayers should not have to pay to house and feed violent criminals.
"The death penalty and other aspects of our criminal justice system are horribly backwards institutions which cause more long-lasting problems than anyone might imagine," said Sam Reese Shephard, a supporter of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and The Journey of Hope from Violence to Healing.
Bradford also addressed the possibility of innocent people sitting on death row. "Sometimes," he said, "we must sacrifice for the greater good of all."
Bradford does not believe that there is any reason for people to break the law.
"People can eat and survive in America without breaking the law," he said. They just have to accept and live within their current socioeconomic levels, he added.
Bradford does not believe there should be parole, a parole board or parole officers in Texas.
"Time sentenced should be time served," he said, explaining that criminals should not be granted early release. "It is a disservice to the jury who sit and sift through all that evidence." America, he said, has "the best jurisprudence system in the world."
A jury is a selected group of persons chosen to decide by judicial procedure the awards of individuals, he asserted.
We deprive offenders of a fundamental right that they earn when, for example, we release them within five months after a jury has sentenced them to seven years in prison, Bradford said.
He said he believes diversity is important. "We need people with diverse personalities to deal with a diverse community," he said.
Bradford said he thinks people who are interested in becoming police officers should remain who they are and what they are, and then learn to be a police officer.