overpolice

Verb

overpolice (third-person singular simple present overpolices, present participle overpolicing, simple past and past participle overpoliced)

1. (transitive) To police too much, as by patrolling a neighborhood excessively or meting out a punishment incommensurate to the severity of a crime.
   • First, many veterans of protest marches believe that the police overpolice these events. Second, why are the police still willing to protect a St. Patrick's Day Parade if security concerns and costs are suddenly so important?2003 February 15, “The Fundamental Right to March”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 May 2015
   • Black people in America fit that description of being overpoliced and oversentenced.2016 January 7, Cory Doctorow, “White House plan to use data to shrink prison populations could be a racist dumpster fire”, in Boing Boing, archived from the original on 06 Mar 2021