"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." - Ayn Rand
Or in short,
Just keep making more laws until normal things are illegal things, and soon everyone is a criminal. Then the state has a pretext to go after anyone it desires.
Basically more like the european law model or monarchy models, where something is legal only if a law explicitly makes it legal. If there is no law making something legal, by default it’s illegal. Here we live where if no law exists forbidding something, it’s assumed legal.