The argument is not about 'enhanced surveillance' in a vacuum; it was about authoritarianism. The idea that police are more effective given more power IMO requires proof; it seems just as plausible that the absence of checks and balances on their behavior makes them more prone towards arresting and successfully prosecuting innocent suspects or failing to prosecute crimes that aren't advantageous to them to investigate.
The idea that police in an authoritarian state are just like police in a democracy only with more powers seems hopelessly naive. Everything about their structure and accountability is different, and it doesn't seem to follow from some "common sense argument" that you can just assume they are more efficient controlling for technology.
The idea that police in an authoritarian state are just like police in a democracy only with more powers seems hopelessly naive. Everything about their structure and accountability is different, and it doesn't seem to follow from some "common sense argument" that you can just assume they are more efficient controlling for technology.