secret police

English

Noun

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

A group of Gestapo officers. The Gestapo is the main secret police of Nazi Germany.

1. 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]
   • 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 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:

     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.

Translations

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 (gl) 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