History PoliceAreUseless / WesternAnimation

** In "[=SpongeBob=]'s Last Stand" when [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are protesting Plankton building a superhighway over the Krusty Krab and Jellyfish Fields, the police arrest them for ''playing a bassoon without a license'', then instead of taking them to jail simply dump them on the outskirts of town.

* Subverted by an episode of ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' where Bowser and the Koopas follow Mario and Luigi back to Earth. Bowser decides to conquer Earth along with the Mushroom Kingdom, and the New York police department helps the Mario Bros. get rid of them. Unfortunately, Bowser turns them to stone ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse and we never see them get changed back]]).

** No kidding. In "[=SpongeBob=] Meets the Strangler", the Strangler draws a picture of [=SpongeBob=] on the back of a police cruiser's seat and viciously tears it up, obviously implying he's going to kill him. After the police see this, and [=SpongeBob=] asks for their help, what do they do? They tease him about it.

** Sideshow Bob attempts to kill Bart aboard the houseboat the family is living on after going into witness protection. Bart manages to stall him long enough for the boat to run aground near a brothel where the entirety of the Springfield police force has been hanging out, they quickly arrest Bob.

** When he and the other officers witness a brainwashed Bart vandalizing a Krusty shaped drive-thru speaker with a baseball bat while Sideshow Bob is standing next to him screaming "'''Yes'''! Kill Krusty like you will ''kill him tomorrow''!", Wiggum merely comments how nice it is that Bart is using a wooden bat instead of an aluminum one (as well as giving a subtle TakeThat to then-recently elected GeorgeWBush). And then gets side tracked by a mini pinball toy in Lou's Krusty Meal.

** Officer Barbrady is extremely incompetent in the early seasons for being incapable of solving crimes and other stuff. Despite that, he ''actually'' kept South Park in peace since he's the only cop in town and had moments like when he learned to read and solved the "Chickenlover" case. He becomes much more competent in his job during his appearances as he was DemotedToExtra when Detective Yates and the Park County police took over.

** Officer Barbrady is extremely incompetent in the early seasons for being incapable of solving crimes and other stuff. Despite that, he ''actually'' kept South Park in peace since he's the only cop in town and had moments like when he learned to read and solved the "Chickenlover" case. He becomes much more competent in his job as he was DemotedToExtra and the Park County police takes the role.

* ''Animation/SheZow'' is an aversion on this; the police can hold their own, it's just that [=SheZow=] is faster.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Stan goes nuts and takes two hostages, demanding drugs. The police negotiator on the scene immediately gives Stan the drugs and a plane for Stan to fly to British Columbia; as soon as Stan drops the hostages, the negotiator kills the hostages himself without any provocation before trying to rape Hayley.

* Subverted by an episode of ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' where Bowser and the Koopas follow Mario and Luigi back to Earth. Bowser decides to conquer Earth along with the Mushroom Kingdom, and the New York police department helps the Mario Brothers get rid of them. Unfortunately, Bowser turns them to stone ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse and we never see them get changed back]]).

** No kidding. In "Spongebob Meets the Strangler", the Strangler draws a picture of Spongebob on the back of a police cruiser's seat and viciously tears it up, obviously implying he's going to kill him. After the police see this, and Spongebob asks for their help, what do they do? They tease him about it.
** In "Growth Spout" The police completely ignore the crazed Mr Krabs running by them loudly searching for food just after responding to a call about someone going around stealing food.
** In "Sentimental Sponge", Squidward called the "Sanitation Police" to report Spongebob, who was piling garbage in his house that was getting everywhere, including Squidward's house. One of the cops does nothing but scoff at Squidward and call him a snitch.

** After hearing what he thinks is an approaching Biker Gang, a scared Wiggum orders the Patrol Car to be disguised as a Pizza Delivery Car. As a TakeThat to Domino's Pizza, he used ''their'' logo as means to be sure the "gang" wouldn't want any pizza they might have (an AffectionateParody, since Domino's [[BitingTheHandHumor sponsor the show]]).

* ''Animation/SheZow'' is an aversion on this, the police can hold their own, it's just that [=SheZow=] is faster.

** In "Apple Wedding", after [[WhatTheHellHero having everyone present at Tree Trunks' wedding thrown in the dungeon due to their support of the King of Ooo]], Princess Bubblegum later orders the Banana Guards to "let everyone go". They release [[LiteralMinded EVERYONE in the dungeon]], including the actual felons.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' and ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' both had their respective protagonists, Scrooge [=McDuck=] and, well, WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck, wind up in jail at least three times because the villains are messing with the police's heads. Of particular interest is that, in the "Super WesternAnimation/DuckTales" serial that introduced Gizmoduck; the police also actually give judge and jury duty to the Beagle Boys despite them being known criminals!

** In "You Made Me", when the Banana Guards found out that the Earl of Lemongrab was breaking into people's houses and staring at them [[spoiler: because he was jealous of Princess Bubblegum's huge kingdom]], they didn't do anything about it because they were bored and watched it on monitors.
** In "Root Beer Guy", when Princess Bubblegum was kidnapped by Finn & Jake [[spoiler: as part of a plot to test her security, i.e. the Banana Guards]], the Guards ''didn't even notice'' and just got in the way of Root Beer Guy, the only one doing any police work and ignored him when he tried to report the kidnapping -- He eventually had to resort to claiming he took a boat out after 8 o'clock in violation of Lake Butterscotch rules to even get them to ''show up''. At the end of the episode, Princess Bubblegum saw how useless the Guards were and [[spoiler: made Root Beer Guy the Captain]] in an effort to change this.

* While the police of Woodcrest do appear to be useless on a daily basis, this is mostly because they are either [[DirtyCop on the take]], innocents roped up in some so-called heroes' criminal activities or simply not called upon in the first place. They prove how useful they can be in the episode of ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' "Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy". Only after the Freeman family's other plans fall through [[spoiler: including purchasing the incredibly pricey protection services of the now deceased Bushido Brown]], someone resorts to 'snitching' on the three antagonists making attempts on their lives and the police resolve the issue quickly with minimal fuss.

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' when the World Economic Council calls the police when Boris and Natasha escape with a truck load of counterfeit boxtops.

** The page image is from a joke ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' did about the cop show ''Series/{{CHiPs}}'', where Erik Estrada's character Ponch is hitting on a woman and ignoring a violent gunfight and a truck carrying cocaine passing behind him.
** Also, when JamesWoods stole documents of Peter's identity, Joe said he had no choice but treat Woods as the real Peter Griffin.

* Sheriff Stone from ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated''. Most of the time, he won't even get involved in whatever mystery Crystal Cove is facing, until the gang proves it a hoax, and if he does get involved, he'll sometimes make things worse. He even arrested Scooby when a dog was terrorizing the town despite clear evidence that Scooby wasn't responsible. In season two, it's revealed he has a string of lawsuits related to arresting the wrong people.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Plays with this. The Metal Bending Police and the Anti-Equalist Task force do have moments of competence, like attacking and defeating an Equalist secret base. Ultimately though, the police are outfoxed and outwitted at most turns, with the Equalists unveiling new weapons and tactics, and the cops beaten thoroughly. When the Stadium is attacked, all the cops are taken out with electric gloves (they all wear metal), and all the outside airships and boats were all defeated offscreen. In the first season finale, the officers get taken down left and right, losing the city.
** In the second season, Lu and Gang play this role as [=Jerk=]s who [[EstablishingCharacterMoment prank Mako by lying to him]], intentionally place evidence in the shelf so that [[LazyBum they don't have to investigate]], and (don't) do other things that make things worse to the protagonists. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Asami]] in ''TheSting'' while in the Interrogation Room.
* The police in ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' usually vary, but any time a character reports a crime to the police station, the cops laugh them out. The worst would be the time Grandpa reported that his Packard was missing. The police said they'd get right on it, as soon as they were finished with a stack of other missing car reports, with them laughing uproaringly.
* The cop that hold [[OnlySaneMan Harvey]] to "get down" from the ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' episode "Booty Noir".

* The Toy Story Toon short "Partysaurous Rex" plays this for laughs. When Rex is trying to subdue a party, a little toy police car drives up and dives into the bathtub party.
* In one episode of ''AmericanDad'', Stan goes nuts and takes two hostages, demanding drugs. The police negotiator on the scene immediately gives Stan the drugs and a plane for Stan to fly to British Columbia; as soon as Stan drops the hostages, the negotiator kills the hostages himself without any provocation before trying to rape Hayley.
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** In "Apple Wedding", after [[WhatTheHellHero having everyone present at Tree Trunks' wedding thrown in the dungeon due to their support of the King of Ooo]], Princess Bubblegum later orders the Banana Guards to "let everyone go". They then release [[LiteralMinded EVERYONE IN THE PRISON]].

** In the second season, Lu and Gang play this role as {{Jerk}}s who [[EstablishingCharacterMoment prank Mako by lying to him]], intentionally place evidence in the shelf so that [[LazyBum they don't have to investigate]], and (don't) do other things that make things worse to the protagonists. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Asami]] in ''TheSting'' while in the Interrogation Room.

** In "Root Beer Guy", when Princess Bubblegum was kidnapped by Finn & Jake [[spoiler: as part of a plot to test her security, i.e. the Banana Guards]], the Guards ''didn't even notice'' and just got in the way of Root Beer Guy, the only one doing any police work and ignored him when he tried to report the kidnapping. At the end of the episode, Princess Bubblegum saw how useless the Guards were and [[spoiler: made Root Beer Guy the Captain]] in an effort to change this.

* ''WebAnimation/BeeAndPuppycat'': While Bee is waiting to cross the street, two police in a cop car drives to the intersection and stops to glare at her to make sure she doesn't jaywalk while ignoring two kids running across the street to chase a duck.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Plays with this. The Metal Bending Police and the Anti-Equalist Task force do have moments of competence, like attacking and defeating an Equalist secret base. The chief, Lin Beifong, averts this all the way [[spoiler: until she resigns from the force]]. Ultimately though, the police are outfoxed and outwitted at most turns, with the Equalists unveiling new weapons and tactics, and the cops beaten thoroughly. When the Stadium is attacked, all the cops are taken out with electric gloves (they all wear metal), and all the outside airships and boats were all defeated offscreen. In the first season finale, the officers get taken down left and right, losing the city.