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

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

An agent for the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s secret police, arranged an introduction between Mercader and Sylvia Ageloff, a left-wing social worker from Brooklyn, N.Y., whose sister had once been Trotsky’s secretary.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, refuted descriptions of ICE as a secret police force.

From Salon • Oct. 24, 2025

“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 • Jan. 24, 2025

But for the person who thinks, “At the end of this year, I’m going somewhere to be free, a place without secret police, free to believe whatever I want and teach my children.”

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri