Why is the Public Polarized About Issues with the Police?

John,

Because we didn't start this thing to talk about petunias or tulips, let's start with an issue that has (figuratively and at times literally) been burning since August of 2014.  Michael Brown, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Walter Scott are just a few of the names of black males (here are more names) whose deaths at the hands of law enforcement have sparked nationwide unrest and city-closing protests by communities who feel these incidents occur too often and with too little accountability.

Ferguson, New York City, and Baltimore are just a few of the cities in which the reaction to these events has resulted in sustained protests with bursts of boiling tension and opportunistic looting and vandalism.

Chip Sommerville-Getty Images

While each of these specific incidents have been tragic, what is perhaps most disheartening is that there is little chance anything meaningful will be done prevent these events in the future because public opinion has split decisively along stereotypical partisan lines.  With liberals lining up behind the victims and protesters and conservatives quickly coming to the defense of law enforcement, there threatens to be gridlock in addressing public policy reforms.  But the debate has gone off the rails with some liberals going as far as defending the vandals and looters as simply "expressing their grief" to conservatives creating online fundraising campaigns to financially support the officers who took the lives of these men.

So my question is: why is the public so polarized about these incidents?

~Mike