The balance is between state power and civil liberties. State power is important to curtail crime and maintain order, civil liberties are an important check in preventing a state from becoming oppressive or pursuing a very unpopular course of action.

There is very little understanding in the UK, and in England in particular, that it is dangerous to allow a state to become too powerful, for its police force to be so effective that it precludes the possibility of the public removing a government that is not serving its people.