History Main / ChurchPolice

* ''Literature/TheDevilIsAPartTimer: Suzuno is a deadly assassin for the church who begins to question the church's orders and motives forexpecting her to carry out their dirty work.

* In ''Literature/ParallelWorldPharmacy'', the church sends priests out to capture and kill Farma for blasphemy before realizing that he basically ''is'' the incarnation of a god after all.
* In ''Literature/TrinityBlood'', the AX and the Inquisition conduct investigatory, espionage, and covert operations for the papacy. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K94Dov21aIw Including hunting vampires]].

* As much as Big Brother and the Party had replaced God and religion in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', the Thought Police would count as this trope, similar to the Telegrammaton Clerics in ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}''.

* ''Literature/TheAlchemyWar'': Stemwinders--horrific bladed centaur robots--are the muscle of the Dutch Empire, enforcing their disdain for Catholicism with extreme prejudice.
* The Consistorial Court of Discipline in ''Literature/TheBookOfDust''.
* The Defenders of Sataki from ''[[Literature/KaneSeries Dark Crusade]]'', a brutal force whose main aim is to hunt ''inuchiri''--"those who betray the one faith" (in [[GodOfEvil Sataki]]).

* In the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' novels, the Custodes Fidei (Guardians of the Faith) is tasked with keeping the Church in Gwynedd "pure" and [[FantasticRacism free from the Deryni "taint"]] by investigating all priest-candidates and screening them by various means to make sure that no Deryni are ordained as priests.

* In ''Literature/InheritanceTrilogy'' the order of Intempas has Order Keepers to protect the laws.

* In ''[[Literature/SherlockHolmes A Study In Scarlet]]'', the [[spoiler: LDS church has a secret and very ruthless force.]]
* The Faith Militant in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': They are the military arm of the Faith of the Seven. In the book ''A Feast for Crows'' they are shown to be acting in a rather police-like manner.

* The short story ''[[http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts/PeterWatts_Heathens.pdf A Word For Heathens]]'', by Canadian sci-fi author Creator/PeterWatts, features brutal descriptions of a future totalitarian theocracy that artificially boosts the religious centers of the brains of its shock troops in order for them to feel ''righteous'' as they slaughter innocents.

* In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', the Christian Marines are explicitly formed with the goal of making the Ten Commandments the law of the land.

* Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' stories. The United Church has agents that hunt down wrongdoers in several novels. To be fair, though, the Church is basically a pan-galactic Unicef rather than a religious organization.
** ''For Love of Mother-Not''. Agents of the Church's Moral Operations branch pursue Flinx.
** In ''Bloodhype'', Kitten Kai-sung and the Tolian named Porsupah are agents of the Church's Intelligence Arm sent to the planet Repler to investigate the trade in the illegal drug bloodhype.

* In ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'', the AX and the Inquisition conduct investigatory, espionage, and covert operations for the papacy. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K94Dov21aIw Including hunting vampires]].

* In the ''[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus MontyPython]]'' sketch "Bishop on the Landing" a family finds a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin dead bishop on their landing]]. They debate whether to call the church or the police, so they call the Church Police.

Very likely to be a StateSec. {{Knight Templar}}s and {{Church Militant}}s are to be found among their ranks. May be {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s. They are frequently FacelessMooks in hooded robes. Often a symptom of the PathOfInspiration, the CorruptChurch, or on the far extreme, the ReligionOfEvil. However, on occasion, these groups aid the protagonists. SubTrope of ChurchMilitant, and frequently overlaps with CulturePolice. May be led by a SinisterMinister.

* In ''Literature/ParallelWorldPharmacy'', the church sends priests out to capture and kill Pharma for blasphemy before realizing that he basically ''is'' the incarnation of a god after all.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* The militant Sons of Ares cult in the reimagined ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' series. It's possible that given the henotheistic nature of their society, other Gods and Goddesses have similar militant followings. The Sons of Ares were shown raiding Baltar's cult's compound using paramilitary tactics and weapons in retaliation for what the other Colonials perceived as an attack on their Gods by Baltar and his followers. Adama's and Tigh's reactions to hearing their name indicated that the group had a violent history in Colonial society. They were later shown on patrol, bearing arms and intimidating the residents of Dogsville.

* [[ChurchOfHappyology Synthiotics/New Realism]] in the cyberpunk miniseries ''Series/WildPalms'' had two versions, really both extensions of the same authority, that of the Church's founder, Senator Kreutzer: one was a well-dressed bunch of thugs in suits who beat up and silenced people (they worked more or less directly for the Senator's crypto-fascist political organization, the Fathers); the other was a group more closely affiliated with the Senator's religious role as founder of Synthiotics: [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything They dressed like naval sailors]] and accompanied young demagogue Coty Wyckoff.

[[folder:Film]]

* The Defenders of Sataki from ''[[Literature/{{Kane}} Dark Crusade]]'', a brutal force whose main aim is to hunt ''inuchiri''--"those who betray the one faith" (in [[GodOfEvil Sataki]]).

* In ''ComicBook/LesMondesDAldebaran'', senior police positions are held by clergy.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/LeScorpion https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/warrior_monks.jpg]]]]

* The Warrior Monks who enforce Cardinal Trebaldi's edicts in ''ComicBook/LeScorpion''.

* The Defenders of Sataki from ''[[Literature/{{Kane}} Dark Crusade]]'', a brutal force whose main aim is to hunt ''inuchiri''--"those who betray the one faith" (in [[GodofEvil Sataki]]).

* ''VideoGame/{{Frostpunk}}'': Midway through the Faith [[SkillTree branch of Laws]], you can instate Faith Keepers to keep the peace, which the Guard Stations early in the Order path do. [[GuideDangIt Unfortunately]], instating Faith Keepers is considered "[[MoralEventHorizon Crossing the Line]]".

* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOhCardGame'': Ashiyan appears to fulfill this role within the Dogmatika faith, as his artwork depicts him standing in front of a group of similarly dressed men. The artwork of Dogmatikacism depicts him attacking Ecclesia, ostensibly for betraying the Dogmatika faith by befriending Fallen of Albaz. Considering that his Japanese OCG name, Hashashiyan, is derived from the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Assassins Order of Assassins]], it remains to be seen if he is also a ProfessionalKiller as well.