Editing Police action (section)

==Appropriate use of the term==
Use of the term does not appear to have gained currency outside of the limited arena of justification of military action:{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} for example, the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] refers to the Korean conflict as the Korean War, and when they refer to police action, they surround the term in [[quotation marks]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/kowar/kowar.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000416010344/http://history.navy.mil/photos/events/kowar/kowar.htm |archive-date=2000-04-16 |title=Korean War}}</ref>{{Synthesis inline|date=December 2010}}

Similarly, a plaque at the [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial]] refers to the [[Vietnam War]] as a war, not a police action, even though it was undeclared.

Use of the term "police action" is intended to imply either a claim of formal sovereignty or of authority to intervene militarily at a nation's own discretion, typically unilaterally or with a small group of nations. This is often done through the United Nations or by asserting that the military operation is defensive or humanitarian in nature such as the [[United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti]] or the [[Invasion of Grenada]].