I have a problem with the law enforcement hammer being used for anything regardless of it resembles a nail, but the problem with this situation is not policing/

I have a problem with the law enforcement hammer being used for anything regardless of it resembles a nail, but the problem with this situation is not policing/enforcement, it is the fact that this was allowed to get to this point. This officer and the security guards were given orders as per their job to remove people for trespassing. If the officer simply asks them to leave, 99.999% of the time this encounter will not lead to an arrest. Trespassing laws are used to keep privately owned space free if people who interfere with conducting business operations. People mindlessly crowding the gate without a ticket, expecting some magic plane to show up and take them to their destination, are doing just that. There are desks inside the secure area to rebook or find flights, and something tells me if these passengers simply queued up there to figure out next steps, the airline would not have called security/law enforcement. There is the argument that people won’t interfere with business operations if you didn’t cancel their flights, too. This whole situation was totally avoidable but I think we’re getting in to Captain Hindsight territory here.