secret police

English

secret police (uncountable) (often treated as a plural)

A police force operating in secrecy and outside the normal boundaries of law and hidden from the public, usually in support of a totalitarian government's political policies to suppress political dissent through the use of methods including intimidation, violence, and surveillance. [1823[1]]
- 1979, Jello Biafra & John Greenway, "California Über Alles", Dead Kennedys, California Über Alles.
  Now it is nineteen eighty-four / Knock-knock at your front door / It's the suede denim secret police / They have come for your uncool niece
- 2014, Ian Black, "Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian, 27 November 2014:
  Leading Jordanian exponents of the Salafi-jihadi world view, such as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, are now behind bars or silent, fearing arrest by the powerful mukhabarat secret police.

police operating outside normal boundaries of law

Afrikaans: geheime polisie sg
Arabic: بُولِيس سِرِّيّ‎ m (būlīs sirriyy)
Basque: isilpeko polizia sg, polizia sekretua sg
Catalan: policia secreta f
Chinese:
Cantonese: 秘密警察 (bei³ mat⁶ ging² caat³)
Mandarin: 秘密警察 (zh) (mìmì jǐngchá)
Danish: hemmeligt politi n
Dutch: geheime politie f
Finnish: salainen poliisi (fi)
French: police secrète f
Galician: policía secreta f
German: Geheimpolizei (de) f
Greek: μυστική αστυνομία f (mystikí astynomía)
Hebrew: משטרה סודי‎ f (mishtara sodi)
Hungarian: titkosrendőrség (hu)
Italian: polizia segreta (it) f
Japanese: 秘密警察 (himitsu keisatsu)
Latin: politia secreta f
Latvian: slepenpolicija f
Norwegian: hemmelig politi n
Portuguese: polícia secreta f
Romanian: poliție secretă f
Russian: та́йная поли́ция f (tájnaja polícija)
Spanish: policía secreta (es) f
Swedish: hemlig polis c