Croatia is currently undergoing a police reform with the assistance from international agencies, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The police affairs unit of the OSCE mission to Croatia is working in partnership with the Ministry of Interior in Croatia to fulfill mutually developed objectives. The OSCE has also appointed a Police Affairs Adviser that is responsible for advising the Working Group of the Ministry of the Interior for Development on how to make the Police Directorate and Administrations more cost effective and efficient.

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Croatia is currently undergoing a police reform with the assistance from international agencies, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The police affairs unit of the OSCE mission to Croatia is working in partnership with the Ministry of Interior in Croatia to fulfill mutually developed objectives. The OSCE has also appointed a Police Affairs Adviser that is responsible for advising the Working Group of the Ministry of the Interior for Development on how to make the Police Directorate and Administrations more cost effective and efficient.

The Law on Police and the Criminal Procedure Code are the two main laws regulating police powers of investigation in Croatia. These laws contain provisions on witness protection, victim support, and special means of investigation. Crime witnesses are protected under the Criminal Procedure Code, Articles 238 and 239. Article 238 states that a witness is not required to reveal his or her identity if doing so would endanger the witness’s “life, health, physical integrity, freedom or substantial property belonging to him or another person”. The obligation for states to protect witnesses in court cases is also found in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which Croatia is a party to. Victims of crime are protected under Articles 69 and 70 of the Law on Police in Croatia. These articles state that the police authority is obliged to protect victims by appropriate means if the victims are in danger (Article 69).

Police powers to maintain public order in Croatia, such as the power to stop and search, seize property and use force, are regulated in the Law on Police and in the Criminal Procedure Code. A Croatian police officer may only search a person if a court has issued a warrant in advance and it is possible that this person has committed an offence or is in possession of objects relevant for the proceeding. A police officer in Croatia is only allowed to use firearms if there is no other way to protect the officer’s own life or the lives of other people, to prevent a crime from being committed for which the prison sentence is five years or more or to prevent the escape of a person caught committing a crime for which the prison sentence is more than ten years (Law on Police, Article 62).

The law regulating disciplinary sanctions for Croatian police officers is the Law on Police. This law contains provisions on disciplinary procedures, breaches of duty and disciplinary courts and sanctions. If a Croatian police officer is in breach of his or her official duty, then the officer will be held responsible according to Article 110 of the Law on Police in Croatia. For minor breaches of official duty, the superior police officer is responsible for proposing to have a disciplinary proceeding while the proceeding itself shall be initiated, conducted and decided by either the Minister of Interior or a person authorized by the Minister. For a serious breach of official duty, the Minister of Interior or a person authorized by the Minister shall propose to have a disciplinary proceeding and the proceeding shall be initiated, conducted and decided by the disciplinary court (Law on Police in Croatia, Article 113).

Analysis provided by Maria Bideke, International lawyer and Director of Law Association Justice International

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