That was actually crossing my mind as I was reading it. The general horribleness of the book made me suspect it wasn't deliberate, but considering like half the deaths in the book seem to be "Then the police-analogues show up and shoot you to death without just cause" this could potentially be a really depressing read for a child with connections to someone shot or otherwise mistreated by the police... although apparently the cops can also be defeated if you and a couple of homeless people raise your blimp at the right moment so they all shoot each other, and then somehow you won't get in any legal trouble whatsoever over the incident. You might still end up "poked" to death by birds, though (seriously, why not just say pecked?).