It further developed with the increasing involvement of the Yugoslav People's Army in the conflict, supporting the Croatian Serbs.

The last large deployment of the special police in the war occurred in Operation Storm in August 1995, when the force contributed 3,100 troops to the offensive.

A small number of other personnel were drawn from a special forces unit of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior that existed before the 1990s.

[8] Special police were visually distinguished by the gradual introduction of a green uniform with a shoulder patch worn on the right sleeve.

It was reorganised into the Special Police Sector of the ministry in 1994 due to the expanding scope of its operations, including planning and oversight of training processes.

[12] The Special Police Airborne Unit, using three helicopters, was deployed on 17 August 1990 to quell a Croatian Serb insurrection in and around Knin.

[8][14] The special police subsequently took part in all military operations in the Croatian War of Independence, sustaining losses of 179 troops killed, 790 wounded and 14 missing.

[14] Under the scheme, the Karlovac, Gospić, Osijek, Slavonski Brod and Zagreb SPUs were planned to have 180 troops each.

[31] No additional SPUs were set up in 1992, regardless of discrepancies between the November 1991 reorganisation scheme and the actual order of battle of the special police.

[14] Following a reorganisation of the force carried out in 2001, the regionally based units were amalgamated into four units—Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek.