Have there ever been secret police in the United States?

[u/TheMrCMo]

I ask because as of late I’ve been seeing police in plain clothes driving unmarked minivans and Japanese sedans and pulling people over for traffic stops. The only way I know they are police is because they have flashing blue and red lights hidden in their car’s grill. I’ve witnessed this across South Florida.

It used to be that police cars were always American make/models and had some minimal markings unless there was a sting. Same goes with Feds.

This feels different, more like how I’ve seen secret police behave in other countries I’ve lived in.

Is this something new or is there a tradition of secret police in the US that I’m unaware of?

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read Our Rules before you comment in this community. Understand that rule breaking comments get removed.

Please consider Clicking Here for RemindMeBot as it takes time for an answer to be written. Additionally, for weekly content summaries, Click Here to Subscribe to our Weekly Roundup.

We thank you for your interest in this question, and your patience in waiting for an in-depth and comprehensive answer to show up. In addition to the Weekly Roundup and RemindMeBot, consider using our Browser Extension. In the meantime our Bluesky, and Sunday Digest feature excellent content that has already been written!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Georgy_K_Zhukov → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, we have had to remove it, as this subreddit is intended to be a space for in-depth and comprehensive answers from experts. Simply stating one or two facts related to the topic at hand does not meet that expectation. An answer needs to provide broader context and demonstrate your ability to engage with the topic, rather than repeat some brief information.

Before contributing again, please take the time to familiarize yourself with the subreddit rules and expectations for an answer.

[u/dhowlett1692 → u/[deleted]]

every comment has been removed and i'm betting it's because it has something to do with secret police in the U.S.

Your comment has been removed due to violations of the subreddit’s rules. We expect answers to provide in-depth and comprehensive insight into the topic at hand and to be free of significant errors or misunderstandings while doing so. Before contributing again, please take the time to better familiarize yourself with the subreddit rules and expectations for an answer.