I've seen it happen. Please don't say it is rubbish unless you can categorically say it doesn't, in every situation.
Challenging an airline employee, or 'confrontation' as you put it, is something which can and does get the police called in the USA. I have personally seen it (50 of us waiting for a heavily delayed flight), the police sided immediately with the airline staff and weren't interest one iota in what the passengers had to say. There was no shouting, no aggression on behalf of the passengers - just a badly handled delay, a lack of any communication by the airline, and gate agents who said they felt 'overwhelmed' by constant questions and felt 'threatened'. They called the police who attended with three officers.
it was, by all accounts, a pathetic display by airline staff, but the police had a zero tolerance approach. There was no investigation in to what was happening, or why the pax were upset. Just a blanket siding with airline staff.