A police force operating in secrecy and outside the normal boundaries of law, usually in support of a totalitarian government to suppress political dissent
The secret police is a police force in some countries that works secretly and deals with political crimes committed against the government. A police force operating largely in secret and often using terror tactics to suppress dissent and political opposition. the secret police a police force controlled by a government, that secretly tries to defeat the political enemies of that government. Police established by national governments to maintain political and social control. Generally clandestine, secret police have operated independently of the civil police. Particularly notorious examples were the Nazi Gestapo, the Russian KGB, and the East German Stasi. Secret-police tactics include arrest, imprisonment, torture, and execution of political enemies and intimidation of potential opposition members