Police state is any nation or other political unit in which the government allows its law enforcement agencies to maintain order through terror. In such a state, the police are not subject to laws or other restraints that would ordinarily limit their actions in a constitutional democracy. The police can spy on anyone without regard for privacy. They can also arrest, imprison, execute, or exile people for any reason.
In ancient times, the Greek city-state of Sparta had the most developed form of police state. During the 1900’s, fascist and Communist countries often used police state tactics.
