He was getting reprimanded for his tough tactics by superiors

based on the whole civil rights anti-police brutality meme of that time. He causes immense mayhem and destruction in his Plymouth chasing the motorcycle, including smashing up a flea market full of people and hitting all sorts of cars while driving the wrong way down a major road. But his crotchety boss doesn't say a word about that chase that would have been all over the news and put the LAPD in a bad light

What are they doing? Why do they come here?
Some kind of instinct, memory, what they used to do.