The Reality of Police Misconduct

The tendency of conservatives is to be supportive of a police officer when he is accused of misconduct, particularly when the accusations come from members of the Left.

That is quite understandable since so often a distinct anti-police bias seems obvious.

But the conservative reaction of supporting the police seems to be a knee-jerk reaction on many occasions.

It is a fact that conservatives are traditionally inclined to think that those in power must be constrained from abusing it.  That, after all, is the reason we favor limited government.  Human nature thirsts for power and control.  Conservatism, as a philosophy, appreciates the need to thwart that inclination toward abuse.

Why, then, does the Right tend to give a pass to police officer credibility accused of misconduct?

Because they represent “law and order” and therefore their excess of power is on our side?  In contrast, the perceived over-reach of an EPA bureaucrat, for instance, is widely condemned by conservatives.
Lord Acton, a British statesman of the 19^th century, a member of the Conservative Party, took a more even-handed approach to the dangers inherent in human nature.  “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Oversight of everyone who exercises power is an essential element of freedom’s preservation.

That is true at the Federal level where the balance of power established by the Constitution was designed to keep national power seekers at bay, down to the police officer on the beat in a town swinging his nightstick.