Police brutality explained

Many people are complaining that police forces across the United States in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have targeted peaceful protesters with violence while letting violent rioters get away with destroying property and attacking civilians, but the incentive for this reaction is clear from the police perspective.

People who are peacefully protesting police violence are an active threat to the power and, let's say, respectability of the police forces in question, whereas the violent rioters generally convince the public that police need more power and latitude to bring "law and order" back into effect. The incentive, therefore, is to target legitimate protesters of police brutality with more brutality in an attempt to limit their effectiveness, which may or may not be an effective strategy, and to let the violent rioters have their way in the meantime to increase public sentiment in their favor.

Part of the reason that police can rely on this response from the general public is the fact that when people see violence being done they just want it to end as soon as possible instead of stopping to consider whether the quickest and simplest answer is the best answer. It's also a function of all government spending, however. When a government agency fails to do what it's supposed to do it's rarely reconsidered and improved, but simply has more money thrown at it.

Public education, for example, is never found to be deficient, regardless of how poorly students in general do. Rather, poor performance from students is always evidence that schools need increased funding. Likewise, an increase in crime, even if it's a result of the police deliberately not going after genuine criminals, will lead to calls for more funding and greater discretion for the police departments.

Police, like all humans, are generally going to look out for their own interests, and letting violent rioters have a freer reign in the short term while cracking down on peaceful protesters who want to limit their power is clearly within their interests. Police don't want to have their power or discretion limited, and, like any person, they don't even want to be inconvenienced, which is at the very least what protesters of police brutality represent.