Quote:
Main Entry: police state
Function: noun
Date: 1865
: a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures
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Source:
Merriam-Webster OnLine
As you can see, a Police State is basically a state in society where the goverment and law enforcement can do whatever they want without any regard for common legal practices, often overriding them.