Top cop Bill Bratton defended the decision to suspend a Bronx officer without pay for badmouthing Mayor de Blasio — telling The Post on Wednesday that the cop caused “damage” to the NYPD and hurt its reputation “around the country.”

“The damage he did to those other 36,000 cops that — I’m sorry, we’re very comfortable with [his suspension],” Bratton said during a sit-down with The Post’s Editorial Board.

“You were applauding him for telling the truth, according to the way you interpret the truth, but the way this was portrayed around the country was not that way. It basically focused on his unprofessionalism, and that’s what we’re [focused on].”

Bratton also dismissed complaints from the rank-and-file that Officer Joseph C. Spina got suspended while top NYPD brass were still drawing paychecks despite being the targets in a widening corruption scandal.

Bratton said that while there were “a lot of allegations” that the bosses had traded favors for lavish gifts, in Spina’s case, “We have a video, we have live evidence. There’s no dispute.”

“The criminal investigation is a much more complex animal. It may take us longer to resolve it and ultimately get to a discipline level and whatever that level is, whether it’s criminal indictments, etc.,” Bratton said.

Spina, 28, was secretly recorded on Saturday telling a ticketed motorist about de Blasio: “I don’t know if you voted for him or not. I don’t live in the city. I wouldn’t have voted for him because this is what he wants. He wants us to give out summonses.”

Bratton’s anti-terror chief, John Miller, accused Spina of “hiding behind the mayor’s skirts for what is not a borderline violation,” referring to a charge of driving without a license.

“The officer who writes that summons should own that summons,” Miller noted.

Chief of Department James O’Neill also said that what Spina did “was absolutely unprofessional.”

“He pulled that car over, he made the decision to write the two summonses, and I applaud him for that. The editorializing — there’s no need for it,” O’Neill said.

Spina emerged from his Rockland County home Wednesday in sweat pants and a hoodie emblazoned with the logo of the Punisher comic-book hero, modified to include a flying eagle and the American flag.

He declined to comment before and after a brief trip in his pickup truck, but a neighbor. Mary Ann Sadowski, 73, said she thought Spina was getting a bum rap.

“You’re entitled to your opinion as long as you obey the law and do what your job requires,” she said.

Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory