secret police

American  

noun

1. a police force that functions as the enforcement arm of a government's political policies and whose activities, which often include surveillance, intimidation, and physical violence as a means of suppressing dissent, are usually concealed from the public.

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secret police British  

noun

1. a police force that operates relatively secretly to check subversion or political dissent

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Etymology

Origin of secret police

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

secret police

In 1982, East Germany’s feared and formidable secret police, the Stasi, used a creative-writing class to train its intelligence officers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

And critics claimed the company’s “Service Department,” designed to see that workers remained “sober and industrious,” was nothing more than a secret police force.

From Barron's ● May 20, 2026

It is completely understandable to raise concerns about a tattoo associated with the Nazi secret police; nobody should be regarded as a pedant for doing so.

From Slate ● Apr. 13, 2026

Rivas was the personal secretary for Chile's infamous secret police chief Manuel Contreras from 1973 to 1976.

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026

“The flies are awful secret police that tear us as if we were carrion,” Hal tells her.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman