It's usually not hard to sympathize with law enforcement in the often outlandish settings of anime. Up against the likes of magic, heroes, and world-ending cataclysms, there is little an officer with a gun can do. But, as Mumen Rider once proved, even the most powerless person should be able to do something.
When even the most helpless of characters can stand up for something, it makes it harder to sympathize with the side of law enforcement when they don't take action, take too long to respond to an incident, or ignore something vital out of incompetence.
10 The Kamino Incident Was Impossible To Get Close To (My Hero Academia)
In a world where 80% of the human population has superpowers known as Quirks, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the law to maintain control. While the police force in My Hero Academia have generally helped to build a feeling of consistent peace, they were powerless at the incident in Kamino ward. With the likes of All for One and All Might duking it out over a devastated city, what could regular cops do?
9 Gang Wars Run Rampant In Ikebukuro (Durarara!!)
Ikebukuro is a hive of rival gangs fighting it out for control over territory. Add to that a mixture of dangerous third parties and even some supernatural forces, and it becomes no wonder that the police in Tokyo can do precious little to help out. Gangs like the Blue Squares or the Dollars plan out their attacks away from prying eyes, and even when the cops catch sight of phenomena such as the Black Rider, they can never catch her.
8 Dealing With Kaiju Battles Is A Tall Order (SSSS.Dynazenon)
Akane Shinjo had the convenient ability to reset time and space after her Kaiju wreaked havoc in SSSS.Gridman. That same convenience is, unfortunately, missing from the city of SSSS.Dynazenon, and its citizens pay the price.
Frequent Kaiju versus Mecha battles tear buildings asunder, and against the towering might of such beings, the police force fails to make any meaningful impacts. They can only hope that the coming days won't see more of the same chaos.
7 What Can The Law Do Against Psychics? (Mob Psycho 100)
Psychic battles in Mob Psycho 100 can be larger than life affairs that bend the laws of nature beyond human understanding. When everything comes to a head in the final battle against Claw, it's no surprise that the law couldn't intervene. Psychic soldiers using their minds to throw trucks caused large-scale destruction, and the leftover byproducts of intense psychic battles were only the tip of the iceberg when it came to making cops feel powerless in this world.
6 Artificial Intelligence Is The Law (Psycho-Pass)
Officers in Psycho-Pass are merely puppets with their strings being pulled by a greater force in the shadows. Police in the Public Safety Bureau can investigate and work cases like no one's business, but when it comes to pulling the trigger on a perp, they are at the mercy of the Sibyl system. The omnipotent AI determines whether a suspect is truly a criminal and only it has the authority to let a gun fire. When Sibyl gets this decision wrong, innocent lives are lost, and Akane Tsunemori can only stand helplessly by, gun in hand.
5 Sometimes The Law Is Painfully Unaware (Odd Taxi)
For months on end, the law could not solve the mystery of a missing girl and only had vague clues to lead them. They failed to find the culprit behind her disappearance, and to make matters worse, the crime was eventually solved by a humble taxi driver and his associates.
Hiroshi Odokawa even involved a pair of aloof twin police brothers, but their role was mostly in service of his own plans in a scheme that made civilians and criminals more useful than law enforcement.
4 Police Can't Get Near Revy's Shootouts (Black Lagoon)
Whenever Revy and the gang break out the bullets, it's hard to get in the way. The cast of Black Lagoon often find themselves in the midst of deals gone wrong or rival factions looking to take each other out. When unpredictable characters like the psychotic maid Roberta join in, it becomes a recipe for uncontrolled mayhem. Intense firefights follow wherever Revy goes, casualties are inevitable, and the law is ultimately unable to stop any of it.
3 Kayaba Akihiko Evaded Law Enforcement In Virtual Reality (Sword Art Online)
Technology is powerful, as proven by the death game that Kayaba Akihiko created. The deranged genius succeeded at creating a deadly virtual world, but what's more, he evaded the pursuit of the law for far longer than the game lasted. This was because he entered the game himself, rendering his physical body pointless to the law. On top of this, he eventually uploaded his consciousness into the virtual world, ensuring that he could never be held responsible for his actions by anyone except players skilled enough to reach him.
2 Only Legoshi Could Catch The Culprit At Cherryton Academy (Beastars)
Anthropomorphic animals are divided into carnivores and herbivores in a society that always feels on edge. Conflict is always ready to rise to the surface, and at Cherryton High School, it did. The murder of an innocent herbivore set the stage for a mystery that the police were powerless to solve.
Beyond just suspecting that a carnivore could be the culprit, the police were unable to stop the crime or catch the killer. When the case was eventually solved by a student called Legoshi, it made the law seem that much more incapable.
1 When High Schoolers Do The Job Of Adults (Assassination Classroom)
If a yellow octopus comes crashing to earth and threatens to destroy the planet, it has to be taken seriously. Korosensei's demands are only that he must be allowed to train a class of young would-be assassins, leaving the Japanese government in a precarious state. Trained adults, including the military and law enforcement, must sit idly by and hope that the class of 3-E can finish the assassination that they could not.