Law enforcement in Croatia is the responsibility of the Croatian Police (), which is the national police force of the country subordinated by the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, carrying out certain tasks, the so-called, police activities, laid down by law.
The Police deals with the following affairs: protection of individual life, rights, security and integrity, protection of property, prevention and detection of criminal offences, misdemeanors, search for perpetrators of criminal offences, violations and their bringing before competent authorities, control and management of road traffic, conducting affairs with aliens, control and security of state border, and other affairs defined by law.
In the operative sense, police affairs are divided into affairs related to public peace and order, affairs related to security of public gatherings, affairs of the border police, affairs of safety of road traffic, affairs of counter-explosive protection, affairs of the criminal police, crime-technical affairs, crime-files affairs, administrative affairs, nationality-related affairs, status questions and asylum, affairs of protection and rescue, inspection affairs and technical affairs.
In recent years, the force has been undergoing a reform with assistance from international agencies, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe since OSCE Mission to Croatia began there on 18 April 1996, with Croatia being admitted to OSCE on March 24, 1992.
Police powers are actually a set of rights that the police can, under the conditions prescribed by law, use in certain situations.
With regard to their meaning, police powers are prescribed by the Police Act, namely by the method of exhaustive standardization (enumeration) and they are:
There are four points or situations when the police are allowed to open fire. The police may discharge their firearm in:
The General Police Directorate () is an administrative organization of the Ministry of the Interior constituted for conducting police affairs. The General Police Directorate is responsible for:
General Police Directorate is headed by General Police Director ().
There are the following organization forms within General Police Directorate:
For immediate conducting of police affairs there are 20 Police Administrations (policijske uprave) divided into four categories, which cover the territory of the Republic of Croatia according to the organization of units of local self-government (counties or à ¾upanije).
Police stations are established for direct police and other affairs in each Police Administration.
Croatia has had an external border with the Schengen area since the accession of the country to the EU. As part of the major migration movements from 2015, Croatia became part of the so-called Balkan route. The European Border Agency Frontex has a small mission in Croatia to assist the police at various border crossings. In July 2018 Frontex organized the air reconnaissance of the border with Bosnia with a reconnaissance aircraft as part of the Frontex 'Multipurpose Aerial Surveillance (MAS). The aircraft transmit moving images of remote sensing cameras in real time to the Frontex Situation Center (FSC) in Warsaw, Poland. In 2023, Croatia became a Schengen Zone member state.
For several times NGOs report, that the Croatian police illegally and arbitrarily deport refugees to Bosnia-Herzegovina, i.e. from the EU (push-backs). It would come again and again to attacks by the Croatian officials on the refugees.
Most vehicles in the Croatian police fleet are acquired through leasing agreements, which typically last three to five years. This approach allows the Ministry of the Interior to maintain a modern and technologically up-to-date fleet without large upfront expenditures. At the end of each lease term, vehicles are returned and replaced with new models, resulting in frequent rotation of patrol cars, vans, and motorcycles. Leasing also often includes maintenance and service provisions, reducing operational burdens. Consequently, the police fleet is regularly updated with vehicles such as à  koda Octavia patrol cars, Ford Focus sedans, BMW motorcycles, and Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen transport vans, ensuring consistent operational readiness across all police units.
Ministry of Interior also operates a large number of unmarked vehicles assigned to government officials and for other uses, all in black variant and they are mostly Audi A8, Audi A6, Volkswagen Caravelle, Toyota Land Cruiser.
According to human rights organizations, Croatian police has been accused of overt and, generally unpunished, brutality. Amnesty international has issued a detailed report on the allegations of torture of refugees and migrants, while the Human Rights Watch has criticized the organization impunity of violence and unlawful pushbacks at their borders.
In 2021, the Border Violence Monitoring Network published a report into the use of torture and inhuman treatment during pushbacks by Croatian police. They assert that: