A 20-year embellished veteran of the NYPD celebrated Independence Day a bit early by retiring — and giving the division the finger.
Thomas J. Gambardella, 41, of Staten Island, posted a photograph on Fb of himself flipping the fowl at a memorial inside NYPD headquarters, whereas sporting a T-shirt studying “Let’s Go Brandon,” following his official retirement from the drive two weeks in the past.
“I’m formally retired in the present day!” he wrote in a publish on the time. “From this sorry excuse of a s–t job. Thank God, I’m free ultimately!… I beloved everybody I labored with and ‘some’ of the individuals I’ve labored for. However this job is nobody’s pal. Time to stay free. I’ll see you all on the market!”
Gambardella, who was most just lately a detective sergeant, informed The Put up on Saturday that he beloved his job when he began out — however the gig turned “s–t” as a result of metropolis’s more and more soft-on-crime insurance policies.
“I used to be a real believer,” Gambardella, who comes from a police household, mentioned of his early years on the beat. “I wasn’t a bag of s–t. I labored some intricate particulars. I gave a variety of my blood, sweat and tears. However no extra.”
A mixture of more and more liberal insurance policies and what he mentioned was the NYPD’s stranglehold over each facet of his life led him to bitter on the job.
“It’s the worst f–king job on the planet,” Gambardella mentioned. “They personal you. They’re not your mates. All that speak concerning the ‘huge blue household.’ They don’t care. If I die tomorrow they wouldn’t give a sh-t. If I wanted one thing it ain’t gonna occur. I’m higher off simply saying a prayer.”
The potty-mouthed former officer mentioned he was disgusted by the elevated hostility towards police, calls to defund the NYPD and crackdowns on what cops might or couldn't do.
“Crime is hovering and cops are leaving in droves,” Gambardella mentioned. “Anyone can see that. All this liberalism is clearly a failure. However that is what they needed. It’s a silly experiment and it’s the individuals who pays ultimately.”
Gambardella mentioned he has gotten some backlash to his posts and photographs, although not a lot.
The statue he took goal at depicts a police officer watching over the kid of a slain cop — and several other present and retired NYPD detectives mentioned they had been stung and angered by seeing the picture of Gambardella giving it the finger in One Police Plaza.
One retired detective mentioned that officers will usually purchase miniature variations of the statue with for households of slain cops with the hero’s defend quantity on it.
“I've a illness,” Gambardella mentioned. “It’s referred to as diarrhea of the mouth. Individuals who know me know I’m like this. I don’t cower down.”
Gambardella, who's divorced with three children, mentioned cops had been handled effectively underneath Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former police commissioner Ray Kelly, and that the general public was higher off with them, too.
“The minute they stopped the standard of life enforcement that was the start of the tip,” he mentioned. “Simply having individuals know they may get a response from a noise criticism was an enormous deal. However that’s all lengthy gone.”
Gambardella, who mentioned he was named Officer of the 12 months in 2006 when he labored within the 68th precinct in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, joined the drive in July 2002. He was most just lately within the detective squad on the seventieth precinct in Kensington.
In accordance with metropolis data, he made $164,000 final yr.
Greater than 2,119 NYPD officers have both resigned or retired to date this yr – on tempo to be the most important exodus of officers because the statistics have been obtainable.
Some 524 cops have resigned and 1,072 have retired as of Might 31, NYPD pension stats obtained by The Put up final month confirmed. In June alone, 523 officers left, with 400 retiring and 123 resigning, essentially the most resignations in a single month in not less than a decade.
Of the two,119 who're leaving, 1,472 are retiring and 647 are resigning, a 38% spike over the earlier file of 1,535 for the primary six months of 2020, the attrition numbers present.
Gambardella had 14 complaints lodged in opposition to him, in keeping with data which present he was exonerated in 4 whereas six had been deemed “unsubstantiated” and one “unfounded.” None appeared to lead to disciplinary motion.
“Nearly all of officers who're retire are happy with their careers and their service with the NYPD,” a high-ranking police supply informed The Put up when requested about Gambardella.
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