I wonder how much of the state of affairs is due to the "enshitification" of law enforcement. I think a lot of towns/cities require officers to give out a minimum number of citations/tickets per month.
If you are told to care about a number, you will care about a number.
Enshitification would imply they were ever good. Police brutality has been a constant throughout US history, particularly against minorities, among many other things.
Those numbers influence promotions/raises. It is probable that higher-paid cops commit more civil rights violations than lower-paid by virtue of them being more likely by comparison to have undue arrests and convictions on their record (and ~equally likely to encounter actual criminal behavior).
If you are told to care about a number, you will care about a number.