secret police

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noun

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.

Origin of secret police

First recorded in 1920–25

Also called security police.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for secret police

Historical Examples of secret police

But they were careful lest they be heard by a secret-police spy.
The Story of Mankind
Hendrik Van Loon

British Dictionary definitions for secret police

secret police

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012