For the most part their personal well being is low on the list of priorities and although tend to give the benefit of the doubt to their fellow officers
100% agree.
Nearly every dealing I have has with police has been positive, even when I was ticketed. The one exception was a burn-out CHP officer on Christmas Eve a few years back, I got roundly chewed out by him. I figured out he was this way with everyone when the second CHP office showed up and apologized for his behavior, before did anything else, and without observing any of the arse chewing. He knew his colleague was out of control. He tried to smooth it over to protect (and ultimately) enable his colleague. BTW, I wasn't offended, I felt sorry for the first cop. It's only a matter of time before he mouths off at the wrong person and has a stretch of 395 named after him.
but WOULD NOT cover for them if they reasonably suspected malfeasance.
There is a LOT of social pressure to shield a bad cop, shunning, no one wanting to go on patrol with someone they "can't trust", colleagues leave the cop bar when you show up, etc. Maybe one in 10 of that 85-90% can stand up to the possibility of shunning. I don't particularly blame them, it's buried very deeply in our human DNA, shunning used to be just about the worst punishment any clan could inflict. Watch a baby freak out if mommy and daddy ignore them for a few minutes. Multiply that by how ever many friends and acquaintances you have as an adult. Could you stand it?