How about wanting to assume the worst of the chief... doubt cuts both ways.
No, the chief is not the one who is having his badge taken away with no due process or full investigation. There is a radical assymmetry here, it is the officers who are being treated as criminals not the chief/superintendent.
I am perfectly willing to think that the chief’s view might be vindicated after a full investigation, but I would like to see that investigation conducted first. The officers would be on desk duty pending investigation anyway, but the chief had to publicly humiliate them and assume guilt in order to please the braying mobs.