People apprehended by the secret police are often arbitrarily arrested and detained without due process.
While in detention, arrestees maybe tortured or subjected to inhumane treatment. Suspects may not receive a public trial, and instead maybe convicted in a kangaroo court-style show trial, or by a secret tribunal.
Secret police have been used by many types of governments. Secret police forces in dictatorships and totalitarian states usually use violence and acts of terror to suppress political
opposition and dissent, and may use death squads to carryout assassinations and "disappearances. Although secret police normally do not exist in democratic states there are different varieties of democracy and, in times of emergency or war, a democracy may lawfully grant its policing and security services
additional or sweeping powers, which maybe seen or construed as a secret police" -- Reference Wikipedia.org back to 118)
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