This is admirable leadership, and brave, but he had the good fortune to address a crowd that was peaceful and receptive to his gesture. Not every cop is so lucky.

NYPD: high degree of confidence anarchist groups planned violent interactions and vandalism. Complex network of scouts were in place to direct breakaway groups to commit vandalism with rocks and accelerants.

— jonathan dienst (@jonathan4ny) May 31, 2020

Watch this video. White anarchists driving around trying to give bricks to black protesters to try to incite violence. Thankfully this woman intervened and called them out.https://t.co/9YEIVtgFzi

— AG (@AGHamilton29) June 1, 2020

Not every protester is so lucky as to encounter a cop in the mood for conciliation either.

Salt Lake City cops shove down an elderly man with a cane for the crime of standing along the street: pic.twitter.com/PCLkHqQtJg

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 31, 2020

NYPD officer just called a female protester a “stupid fucking bitch” and threw her to the ground pic.twitter.com/18YUHYmqQa

— Jason Lemon (@JasonLemon) May 30, 2020

they were literally SITTING????????? PEACEFULLY??????? this is absolutely insane. pic.twitter.com/0xmFiZBgYb

— 𝓉 ⚢ (@theresakost13) May 31, 2020

Some protesters have shrewdly begun riding herd on the miscreants in their midst. I posted a clip yesterday of demonstrators blocking off a Target in Brooklyn that was about to be looted. Last night in D.C. people gang-tackled some degenerate who was knocking bricks out of the sidewalk so that he’d have something to throw through windows — or at cops — and they literally handed him over to the police.

https://twitter.com/breaking911/status/1267249136937689089

The Michigan sheriff, Christopher Swanson of Genesee County, said afterwards that he was afraid to take off his gear and wade into a crowd which he knew was suspicious of police but that de-escalation required it. And de-escalation is the only way out of this that won’t make things worse, especially long-term. “Police leadership needs to take action on breaking down the first barrier,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “Police leadership, if they’re not doing it already, come from behind your podiums, come from outside the conference rooms and the incident command centers, talk to the people. That is the difference. People that have something to say when nobody listens continues to be enraged and we are not going to fix the divide overnight, but you can see what happened instantaneously.” Watch two clips here, the start of the march and the end.

Amazing scene unfolding in Flint, Twp, Michigan. Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson has joined protesters in a peaceful march. Read More: https://t.co/4ioyUnymNv @MichStatePolice @GovWhitmer pic.twitter.com/nMCVuXQ0TZ

— Mid-Michigan NOW (@midmichigannow) May 31, 2020

After putting his helmet down and marching in solidarity with protestors in Michigan, Sheriff Chris Swanson stood in front of protestors at the end of the night and gave this speech.

A powerful lesson in Empathy👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/H0mraeNmWH

— Steven Bartlett (@SteveBartlettSC) May 31, 2020