Addressing the ceremony, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that, in addition to their usual duties such as maintaining law and order and preventing crime, the Croatian police were facing an important task of adjusting to European standards so that Croatia could soon be admitted to the European Union.
Interior Minister Marijan Mlinaric said that the Croatian police were not lagging behind their colleagues in European countries in terms of results they achieved, and announced that the Croatian police would soon meet the strictest criteria of the European Union.
Mlinaric recalled that the police represented the foundation of Croatia's independence, because they were the first to oppose the aggressor at the start of the Homeland Defence War in 1991.
Police Director Ivica Franic said that 711 police officers had been killed in the war, 3,586 had been wounded and 44 were listed as missing or imprisoned.