I don't think tyrants and their backers care about formal definitions of what makes a police state. They take what they want, and bide their time patiently if they need to. But what is a police state?
We can look to past and present police states. And see just how quickly or slowly they came about.
I don't think anyone would deny that North Korea is a police state. Unfortunately, how don't know how long it took to become one, or what key laws passed to get it there.
The Soviet union was a police state.
Germany was a police state at one time. I'm assuming it took about 1933-1939 for it to grow into one?
I would assume police states can arrest their citizens without trials? Maybe even without charges?
Do most police states prevent their citizens from leaving? Or just make it really difficult? I assume rich folks with political ties in police states can travel somewhat more freely?
I assume police states control most industries? Free enterprise is either completely illegal or limited?
I assume police states don't have elections or have elections every now and then but keep the same leader (fake win over and over)?
The term originally meant what "social welfare state" means today, i.e. a state that takes care of it's citizens personal needs instead of permitting self-reliance. In a police state people are policed, i.e. they ask the government for help instead of dealing with problems themselves. The term originally referred to the Bismarkian welfare state (the model of national socialism that most western countries apply today). And it was a positive term, being policed means you're being protected, taken care of. (A totalitarian state referred to a state that takes care of it's citizens totally, also a positive term initially.) The problem is that welfare states cause people to become dependent, obedient sheeple, and that's when authoritarian governments emerge. Since police states so often lead to tyrannical governments, the term has taken on that meaning today.
The U.S. is at least 79% police state. I hadn't been able to conclude that until I read something yesterday. America follows at least 11 of them to a tee, one was defeated (but the threat still remains), SOPA's spirit haunts us as the DoJ closed megaupload and arrested the owner, and the last one has evidence but can't be proven (whether Perot was threatened, the IA caucus, and whether diebold machines can rig things, for three examples).
The state needs to be abolished especially with the tech we have today and all the sick shit they do with it without the unanimous consent of society.
If the US is a police state, then the UK is even worse. Few developed nations spend as much per capita on surveillance than the UK. Everytime I go through their airport, it's like hell.
Although the report is a little old, here are the rankings of the top ten worse police states:
1 China
2 North Korea
3 Belarus
4 Russia
5 UK
6 US
7 Singapore
8 Israel
9 France
10 Germany
https://secure.cryptohippie.com/pubs/EPS-2008.pdf
http://gizmonaut.net/bits/police_state.html
I think we often have unrealistic image of police states. Here is one example, though they would eventually clean up their act in the years 1932-34 Soviet authorities recorded 500,000 escapes from its labour camps for deported 'kulaks' (which housed some 2 million people) of which only 140,000 resulted in recapture. Due to police bodies' manpower shortages flight was relatively uncomplicated. So desire to establish a very tight control of population is one thing, but ability (even in a penal camp) is something else. I think historically those police states have been the most successful that rellied the most on cooperation from the populace, which is to say they rellied on a huge number of informants who would do their job for them. Good examples are Germany under the Nazis and DDR.
I assume police states control most industries? Free enterprise is either completely illegal or limited? I assume police states don't have elections or have elections every now and then but keep the same leader (fake win over and over)?
How about a state in which the citizens are presumed criminals? You will know the applicability of that criterion in the United States if you have tried purchasing a product containing pseudoephedrine.