Lt. Thomas Bale
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Thomas Bale was a character on the long running police drama NYPD Blue. He was played by Currie Graham.
An officer with the rank of Lieutenant he joined the squad at the beginning of the twelfth and final season, replacing Sgt. Eddie Gibson as the squad commander. A former internal affairs officer, his original remit was to bring the supposed rogue unit into line after years of lax commanding by his predecessors, Arthur Fancy, Tony Rodriguez and Gibson. To this end he cut down on overtime, fined officers who broke even the smallest rules, and chewed out anyone who didn't follow procedures 100%. He was looked upon by the squad itself as a 'rat' and the elder members of the squad, Andy Sipowicz and Greg Medavoy were of the opinion that he was put in the squad to ensure that they retired, and he was far too eager to encourage Andy to take the NYPD Sergeant's exam. When Medavoy was found to be moonlighting as a doorman, Bale brought disciplinary charges against him which cause the detective to question his position on the job.
During the investigation surrounding attacks on married men who were actually gay, Sipowicz came across Bale's credit card in a suspect's apartment. When Andy returned the card to a stunned Lt. and told him the case was closed, Bale's attitude changed considerably towards Andy and the rest of the squad; while he was still all-business, he trusted the detectives to run their cases and use their own judgment in the process.
Towards the end of the season Bale was shot during a raid and the now Sgt. Sipowicz was put in charge of the investigation. When Bale discovered that he might not be able to return to the job, he recommended Sipowicz to be the new squad commander. In the series finale, Bale visited Andy at the 15th and told him he would have no problem doing the day-to-day job or protecting his people, and would figure out how to deal with the NYPD brass as he went along.
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