Is state law mandatory?

Should the law in a democratic country be viewed as a technical tool through which the police force certain things on the public, or do the laws of the state have a value content, and by the fact that the public comes together and establishes certain rules of conduct, there is an interest in upholding the laws as a kind of moral obligation even when the police don’t catch me?
In addition, do the halakhic obligations such as Dina Demalkuta Dina make the law such? (i.e. binding on its own)