Thomas Bale was a character on the long running police drama NYPD Blue

NYPD Blue

NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...

. He was played by Currie Graham

Currie Graham

Currie Graham is a Canadian stage, film and television actor. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City....

.

An officer with the rank of Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

, 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

Internal affairs (law enforcement)

The internal affairs division of a law enforcement agency investigates incidents and plausible suspicions of lawbreaking and professional misconduct attributed to officers on the force...

 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

Lt. Tony Rodriguez

Lt. Tony Rodriguez was a fictional character in the television series NYPD Blue. He was played by Esai Morales for 48 episodes from 2001-2004....

 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

Andy Sipowicz

Andy Sipowicz is a fictional character and protagonist on the popular ABC television series NYPD Blue. Dennis Franz portrayed the character for its entire run....

 and Greg Medavoy

Greg Medavoy

Gregory Medavoy was a fictional character as well as a protagonist in the television series NYPD Blue. He was played by Gordon Clapp from the third episode of the first season to the second to last episode of the series, when he retired...

 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, causing Medavoy 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

Credit card

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

in a suspect's apartment. When Andy returned the card to a stunned Lt. Bale 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.