I wonder if you would feel that way if one of your loved ones was serving as an officer of the peace - would you want them dealing with dangerous situations on a daily basis people with no regard for "covering their own ass"? Would you feel that way if there were an armed intruder in your home and one of those officers had to respond to protect you? Would you want them to intervene to protect you or your family or sit in your driveway deliberating about whether they should "cover their own ass" or yours?

We don't need to excuse unwarranted police violence as a society, but it's equally unfair to outsource dealing with violent and dangerous situations to others and then glibly remove any means they have to deal with those situations without getting killed themselves.