Police unions almost always defend cops no matter what -- but they aren't defending Derek Chauvin

Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was taken into custody on Friday days after the death of George Floyd -- and he's getting surprisingly little support from police unions.

As Reason Magazine documents, police union officials have been much less willing to go to bat for Chauvin than they have in other cases in which officers were caught on camera physically abusing suspects.

The San Francisco Police Officers Association, for instance, put out a statement saying that Chauvin's actions as shown in a bystander video were "inconsistent and contrary to everything we have been taught, not just as an academy recruit or a police officer, but as human beings."

The Nashville chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, meanwhile, said that Chauvin's "indefensible actions" had "violated the oath and tarnished the reputation that the brave men and women of law enforcement have worked so hard to attain."

And national Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes, although not as forthright in his condemnations, said that Chauvin did not act in a manner that police officers should when they encounter a person in distress.

"The fact that he was a suspect in custody is immaterial—police officers should at all times render aid to those who need it," he said. "Police officers need to treat all of our citizens with respect and understanding and should be held to the very highest standards for their conduct."