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

Lavrenty Beria, the ruthless head of Stalin’s secret police and the dictator’s most fawning sidekick, fully expected to take the reins.

From Literature

Cooper interviewed Parviz Sabeti, a former director of counter espionage for the Shah's secret police, as part of his research for a biography of the Shah.

From BBC

Critics argue that his reluctance to fully reform the justice system or confront the legacy of the Securitate – the feared secret police – allowed a culture of impunity to take root.

From BBC

There are CIA suits, secret police, faceless bureaucrats and backstabbing traitors lurking in these pages.

From Los Angeles Times

“I’m Still Here” travels us to groovy 1970s Rio de Janeiro to befriend a wealthy, loving family who throw their mansion’s doors open for everyone, until the new regime’s secret police barge inside.

From Los Angeles Times