Bloomberg NYPD Bodyguards Following Former Mayor into Retirement

Mike Bloomberg will be losing the first half of his traditional "New York mayor and billionaire bully" sobriquet when he retires next year. He'll just be a freelance billionaire bully and a detested pest to gun owners.

But he'll still enjoy the personal security he seeks to deny the rest of us. The New York Post reports that key members of his security detail, including a police lieutenant and several detectives, will accompany the gun- and fat-hating plutocrat into private life, reportedly at six-figure salaries in addition to their NYPD retirement payments.

A Post source speculated Bloomberg elected to keep the cops in his own employ to keep them from spilling secrets they may have observed during his three terms as Gotham's chief executive.

It's hard to picture the buttoned-down Bloomberg engaging in any Justin Bieber-style antics with weed and hookers, but you never know. He's served long and well as a piñata for this column, and we promise to keep swinging the stick at him just as avidly in retirement. With that in mind, what better than another look at the Steve Lauer vs. Bloomberg bobblehead set from SGN advertiser Lauer Custom Weaponry? It's a sure collectors item.