Original: To maintain the political power and security of the Nazi party ( and later the nation ) , the SS established and ran the Sicherheitsdienst ( '' Security Service '' ) or SD and took over the administration of the Geheime Staatspolizei ( Gestapo ) , the state secret police , the Kriminalpolizei ( KriPo ) , the criminal investigative police , and the Ordnungspolizei ( Orpo ) , the uniformed police .
Simplified: To maintain the political power of the party , the SS was given authority to establish and run the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ) , which was the security and intelligence service , and the Geheime Staatspolizei ( Gestapo ) , or SS secret police , effectively putting the SS above the law .