This article is behind the times. Many conservatives I know stopped knee-jerk defending the police years ago.
I support the police in my local town - because I know them, went to school with some of them, and can talk to them. Beyond that, NO.
Just like my local government - I support it because I know the people in it, and can observe, and influence in my small way, their deliberations. At the other end of the spectrum is the Federal Government.
Policing and government go hand-in-hand. Once it goes beyond the reach of the average citizen, it is corrupt.
I thinkitwas10 years ago or so that I realized most cops are pigs.
Some people are stuck on stupid. This includes so-called conservatives.
Hopefully your knowledge is better than mine, because so many conservatives are obsessed with law and order. They may bitch and groan about this or that issue, but the last thing they will do is civil disobedience. As far as cops go, each incident or accusation has to be individually scrutinized. The incident in NYC with Eric Garner, the fat dude selling loosie cigarettes was totally out of line. I saw video of arrest and bringing in tom the ground etc. The Ferguson debacle is a different. Michael Brown attacked the cop and went for his gun. Cop got his face pummeled by Brown in the police car. Gun went off, Brown was shot in arm. Brown came back,(was this dude screwed up on something?)apparently with hands extended. Now I would have to see videos again. But it seems that possibly officer who got pummeled feared he was going to go after him again—don’t know. Each incident is a separate incident. Can’t generalize. Where I will generalize is the militarization of police forces in general. They are cops, not Navy Seals. This is done not by the police forces themselves—but by Homeland Security throwing all this military hardware at them.