Police state

A police state is a political entity where the government maintains strict control over society, particularly through use of a (often secret) police force. This implies that the control of the government more or less contradicts the will of the controlled. (See also secret police).

The definitive literary treatment of a police state is George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which postulates a totalitarian regime using the excuse of constant war and police using security cameras[?] to surveil the entire population.

this is a stub article. perhaps add information about other police states, police states in literature, etc.

A classic modern police state was East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The East German secret police force, the Stasi (or Ministerium für Staatssicherheit) maintained an incredibly close watch over East German citizens, to the point where virtually every residential building, place of employment or place of leisure was home to at least one Stasi informant.

Some say that since the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, especially with the passing of the USA PATRIOT Act, the United States is becoming more and more of a police state in that the government now has expanded powers to surveil and detain people it considers potential terrorists without due process.

A proposed new act, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 is feared to be likely to accelerate this process.