[bitwize]

> I call it the "martial law bubble" that surrounds each cop.

Ironically, given the discussion about Japanese cops, I refer to it by a Japanese term: kirisute-gomen, "the privilege to cut and leave". If you were a commoner and offended a samurai, the samurai had the legal right to kill you with his sword and didn't even have to report it (hence "cut and leave".) Samurai also used live commoners as swordsmanship practice dummies, but this practice was nominally illegal (still rarely enforced though).

And that's what cops are in the USA: a special privileged warrior class with rights to use violence indiscriminately that commoners do not have.

[petre]

Good thing they were denied carying swords after the Meiji Restoration then.

[bitwize]

Yeah, I'm deliberately comparing modern police with conditions in feudal Japan for a reason :)

[javajosh]

My knowledge of this era is limited to the 80's mini-series "Shogun", based on the book by James Clavell, but wow, I never made that connection before, thanks.