The force is in charge of regular police functions and, at times, works in conjunction with the Nicaraguan military, making it an indirect and rather subtle version of a gendarmerie.

Its training began in July 1979 after the overthrow of the National Guard, the armed wing of the Somoza dictatorship.

Junta of National Reconstruction decreed on 22 August of that year, the Fundamental Statute of the Republic of Nicaragua in its Art.

23 declares dissolved the National Guard, the Office of Homeland Security and Military Intelligence Service and the laws of the country.

In April 2013, Nicaraguan police arrested Eric Justin Toth, an American fugitive wanted by the FBI for possession of child pornography.

[2] In March 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on the National Police claiming the police committed human rights abuses, including allegations of using live ammunition on protesters, operating death squads, and taking part in extrajudicial killings and kidnappings.

[3] With the assumption of the First Commissioner Aminta Granera in the National Headquarters in September 2006, adjustments were made in this plan projecting its coverage until 2011, also establishing new strategic guidelines for police work.