The secret police in a totalitarian government got their name by investigated and punished people with no warning. The existence of secret police, supported by sophisticated espionage technologies and particularly sophisticated psychological methods, generates an environment where every people feels under persistent surveillance.
EXPLANATION:
Secret police are security, intelligence, or police services involved in secret operations against political opponents and dissidents of government. Secret police organizations are the hallmark of totalitarian regimes. It is used to keep the political power of a dictator or authoritarian regime, moreover, secret police usually operate outside the law and are used to suppress rebels and deteriorate political opposition, often with violence.
J. Michael Waller and Ilan Berman define the political police (another name for secret police) as the center of a totalitarian regime. Furthermore, the secret police also have the responsibility for unrelated tasks of suppressing internal dissent, like engaging in counterintelligence, gathering foreign intelligence, managing border security, and guarding government buildings and bureaucrats. Secret police services sometimes survive even after the collapse of the totalitarian regime.
Arbitrary custody, forced and abduction disappearance, murder, and torture are the tools applied by the secret police "to investigate, prevent, or punish (imagined or real) opposition." Since the secret police usually act with great unrestricted power "to decide what crime is" and are a tool utilized for targeting political opponents, they operate separately from the rule of law.
People arrested by the secret police are usually arbitrarily under arrest and detained without going through legal proceedings. While in imprisonment, detainees may be tormented or subjected to brutal treatment. The suspect may not accept public proceedings, and may instead be sentenced in a kangaroo court-style trial, or by a secret court. The secret police that is known to use these approaches in history involves the Portuguese PIDE and the East German secret police (Ministry of State Security or Stasi).
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KEYWORDS : Secret Police, Totalitarian Government
Subject : History
Class : 10-12
Sub-Chapter : Secret Police
