Prospects of the Public Order Protection Organization at the

Municipal Level in Russia

Vladimir V. Tkachenko

, Vasily V. Kolenichenko

, Roman E. Bogachev

and Natalya V. Zimovets

I.D. Putilin Belgorod Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Belgorod, Russia

Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia

Keywords: Protection of Public Order, Municipal Police, Prevention of Offenses, Security of Citizens, Local

Self-Government, Issues of Local Importance, Municipal Guard.

Abstract: In accordance with the current legislation, the functions of protecting public order are a priority for the State.

The creation of a municipal police or police at the municipal level is also complicated by the fact that so far

no normative legal acts regulating the legal status of the municipal police have been adopted. The article

analyzes the current legislation in the field of public order protection by local self-government bodies. The

article considers the foreign experience of the organization and functioning of the municipal police in terms

of the protection of public order and the solution of local issues. Both the positive aspects of the creation of

the municipal police service and the emerging difficulties in regulating public relations associated with its

creation are revealed. At the same time, there is already a positive experience of the municipal police in the

recent history of Russia. From a practical point of view, the experience of the city of Belgorod is interesting,

where the local authorities have created and successfully operate the Municipal State Institution “Municipal

Guard”.

1 INTRODUCTION

Among the objects of social management, the

protection of public order is very important, without

which the normal existence of civil society, as well as

the functioning of its social, economic, political,

cultural and other components, is impossible.

Undoubtedly, an insufficient level of ensuring public

order will have a negative impact on the sense of

security of both the individual citizen and the entire

society as a whole.

The reform process and repeated layoffs of police

officers in recent years have led to a massive shortage

of employees on the “ground”, that is, in the lowest

divisions of the territorial bodies of the Ministry of

Internal Affairs of Russia.

Currently, there is a rather large shortage of

personnel in the units involved in the protection of

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public order: district police commissioners, patrol and

post police service.

At the same time, the grassroots units, especially

the departments of the district police commissioners,

are constantly burdened with non-core tasks, such as

supporting criminal cases, preparing decisions to

refuse to initiate criminal proceedings, patrolling the

streets during public events.

It should be noted that the municipal police is the

basis of the entire police system in a number of

foreign countries. Considering the foreign experience

in the formation of the police system, we see that

similar structures exist in such countries as Germany,

the United States, France and in a number of other

countries (Wolf, 2008; Feltes 2013; Walby, Lippert,

2012). The activities of these structures in these

countries are financed from the local budget and,

accordingly, they are managed by local authorities

(Donnelly, 2013; Guillamón, 2011). I would like to

816

Tkachenko, V., Kolenichenko, V., Bogachev, R. and Zimovets, N.

Prospects of the Public Order Protection Organization at the Municipal Level in Russia.

DOI: 10.5220/0010598108160821

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 816-821

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

note that the funding of local authorities in these

countries is much higher than in the Russian

Federation.

In France, in communes where the population is

less than 10 thousand people, the municipal police

operates, which maintains public order and public

safety, ensures the peace of citizens in a strictly

defined framework established by law. In this State,

the municipal police is the reserve of the National

Gendarmerie of France and the National Police in the

context of the implementation of the functions of the

criminal police, reports to the mayor and is

accordingly funded from the local budget. This

experience of the municipal police of the V Republic

could be used in the implementation of law

enforcement activities of the internal affairs bodies of

the Russian Federation, this is, first of all, a

competitive procedure for the formation of the

personnel component and detailed regulation of the

powers of officials performing the relevant functions

(Bolotina, 2006).

The main powers of the municipal police officers

are: prevention of offenses, identification of citizens,

video surveillance, inspection of citizens and

inspection of various objects. In the course of their

activities, they also have the right to apply a number

of coercive measures, such as physical force, special

means (Khusyainov, 2016; Kešetović, 2013).

In the experience of the development of the US

law enforcement system, you can find an example

when the local government itself “serves and

protects” by creating a special service of US sheriffs.

Sheriff – an official elected by the population of the

district for 2-4 years, whose main responsibility is to

maintain law and order in the district entrusted to him.

As the head of the county police, the American sheriff

has fairly broad powers in the field of public order

protection: he arrests, brings offenders to court, and

is authorized to use weapons against them

(Golovanova, 2016; Wilson, 2003; Payne, 2004).

2 METHODOLOGIES

The creation of the municipal police in the Russian

Federation should lead to a further increase in the

active participation of citizens in the protection of

public order and ensuring public safety, as well as in

the provision of assistance to law enforcement

agencies in ensuring public order and public safety, in

the prevention and suppression of offenses.

In 2016, also by the deputies of the Duma faction

of the political party “Fair Russia” was re-attempt to

create a municipal police force in the Russian

Federation by introducing a new bill number 385-7

“On the municipal police in the Russian Federation”,

as a result of this bill will be enacted from January 1,

2018 has proposed the creation of the standards with

The creation of the municipal police was proposed

to include in its composition such services as part of

the duty, patrol units for the execution of

administrative law, commissioners of municipal

police, as well as a number of other units that were to

perform the functions conferred upon a municipal

police Department in the proposed bill.

The adoption of this bill should have to be

subjected to significant changes, but rather to abolish

a number of units of the Ministry of internal Affairs

of the Russian Federation, in particular police unit

that performs the functions of protection of public

order and functionally performs the powers that were

supposed to be passed the municipal police

(Golubykh, 2017).

The adoption of a decision on the reorganization

of a number of divisions of the internal affairs bodies

and the transfer of their powers to the municipal

police is essentially a very serious step and should

have a significant argument, so it is not surprising that

this bill has not received support.

Undoubtedly, when developing this legislative

project, the authors did not take into account all the

difficulties that were expressed in the shortcomings

of this draft law, related to the sources and procedure

of funding, as well as in the technical support of the

activities of the municipal police, and the issues of

determining the service in this structure.

A number of Russian scientists in their scientific

publications have considered issues related to the

creation, organization and functioning of the

municipal police.

In his article on the draft law on municipal police,

R. A. Zhuravlev believes that for the creation of a

municipal police, first of all, a transition period of 2-

3 years is necessary, in which the legal, material,

technical, financial and organizational bases for the

functioning of the municipal police would be created

(Zhuravlev, 2017).

At the same time, at present, the need to create a

municipal police in Russia among scientists is

considered a fairly controversial topic.

In his research, I. V. Ivanko says that due to the

lack of material and legal prerequisites at the

necessary level, as well as due to the low

development of civil society, it is premature to talk

about the process of forming a workable, meeting all

the requirements of modern society, municipal police

(police) on the territory of the Russian Federation

(Ivanko, 2011).

Prospects of the Public Order Protection Organization at the Municipal Level in Russia

817

A number of authors believe that currently there

are not even the most necessary conditions for the

formation of municipal police in municipalities, local

self-government bodies cannot have the authority to

apply coercive measures – this should remain the

prerogative of federal law enforcement agencies.

However, local authorities should not stay away from

the protection of public order, since this function is

characterized by local government, full of self-

government is impossible without the ability to meet

the needs of the population in the proper social order

(Uporov, 2016).

M. Yu. Agrafonov believes that local self-

government bodies cannot manage the activities of

the municipal police for several reasons: the activities

of the municipal police will be underfunded, due to

the weak financial security of the local self-

government bodies themselves; local self-

government bodies are entrusted with a large number

of tasks related to the social sphere of society, and

therefore they are already heavily overloaded; local

self-government bodies are not essentially a structure

of state administration, and therefore they are not able

to control the activities of the new structure

(Agrafonov, 2015).

The opposite view has a M. A. Limonov, who

believes that the members of the municipal police will

assist the Ministry of internal Affairs of Russia of

great help in the protection of public order and

ensuring public safety on the streets and other public

places (Limonov, 2014).

Many problems of inter-confessional, inter-

territorial and extremist nature, according to D. M.

Gadzhiev, can be neutralized by using the potential of

the municipal police. In the course of its activities to

protect public order, the new structure will be able to

neutralize many criminal manifestations. Regional

criminological policy, as a tool for combating crime,

should be developed and improved (Gadzhiev, 2015).

There is a position that the functioning of the

municipal police with the provision of appropriate

administrative and legal powers will help to solve a

number of so-called “orphan” norms of

administrative responsibility at the municipal level,

which in turn will help to stabilize the process of

applying administrative legislation (Avdeiko,

Kononov, 2017).

Issues related to the creation and organization of

the municipal police were discussed in a number of

doctoral studies. In particular, A. M. Kononov comes

to the conclusion that the need for municipal bodies

to protect public order is due to the requirements of

the law and the need of society in such law

enforcement agencies. In his work, he proposes a

draft Federal law “On the basics of organizing

municipal public order protection bodies (Municipal

Guards) in the Russian Federation” (Kononov, 2000).

Exploring the implementation of the function of

protecting public order by the municipal police

(police) of foreign countries, P. N. Astapenko

emphasizes that the organization of municipal police

in foreign countries has a number of features that are

traditional and have developed as a result of a long

historical process of forming political and civil

institutions of society within the framework of state

and legal evolution. At the legislative level, local

authorities and their officials are entrusted with the

functions of ensuring public order and public

security, which are enshrined, including in the

constitution of the country (Astapenko, 2009).

In her scientific work, L. V. Gustova comes to the

conclusion that at the present stage of development of

Russia, the decentralization of police activity is

optimal, taking into account the following

fundamental provisions:

 the municipal police must have an independent

status as a local government body;

 there should be no duplication of powers

between the municipal police and the federal

executive authorities in the field of internal

affairs, their activities should complement each

other;

 the financing of the activities of the municipal

police should be carried out at the expense of

the local budget, with possible partial

compensation of the costs from the federal

budget (Gustova, 2016).

Very interesting experience, Belgorod (Belgorod

region), where the local authorities created state

institution “Municipal guard” (hereinafter –

“Municipal guard”), which is a non-profit

organization specifically authorized for the solution

of problems in the field of safety, disorderly conduct,

in cooperation with law enforcement authorities in the

city of Belgorod.

The founder of the “Municipal Guard” is the

municipal formation “City District” City of Belgorod.

In accordance with the approved charter, the

institution carries out its activities in the following

main areas:

 together with other law enforcement agencies,

participates in measures to prevent terrorism

and extremism, as well as to minimize and

eliminate their consequences within the

borders of the city of Belgorod;

 in the implementation of favorable conditions

for the creation and functioning of voluntary

public formations on the territory of the city,

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whose activities are aimed at protecting public

order;

 in measures to monitor citizens’ compliance

with the rules of conduct in public places;

 assistance to law enforcement officers in the

prevention and suppression of administrative

offenses, in matters of public order protection,

as well as the implementation of legal

propaganda for the residents of the city;

 providing assistance, if necessary, to citizens

who are in a helpless state or in a state that is

dangerous to their life and health;

 coordination of the activities of public

formations of citizens of law enforcement

orientation, providing them with

methodological assistance.

On the right of operational management, the

administration of the city of Belgorod was provided

with the necessary office premises of the “Municipal

Guard”. The maintenance of these premises,

including the payment of all operating costs and

utilities, is also carried out by the city administration.

The full-time number of employees of the

“Municipal Guard” is 196 people, of which 173 are in

the position of inspector for the protection of public

order.

The structure of the institution has six structural

divisions: the operational response headquarters, the

department for interaction with the Councils of

territories, three departments for work with law

enforcement agencies and the department for

interaction with the Belgorod Cossack Society.

The daily number of employees of the institution

involved in the protection of public order in the

territory of the regional center is from 70 to 90 people,

and in some cases during mass events in the territory

of the regional center exceeds 100 people.

The municipal guard assists military enlistment

offices in the registration of draft dodgers. In

addition, employees of the institution work with the

land department of the city administration to identify

unrecorded land, illegal development of land plots,

cooperate with the consumer market department –

jointly check the places of illegal trade. When

identifying offenses, they contact the Department of

Internal Affairs on duty for territoriality and take

measures to prevent crimes (Polyakova, 2017).

Employees of the Municipal Guard take part in the

protection of public order together with police

officers in almost all mass events taking place on the

territory of the city of Belgorod. In addition to

working with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of

Russia in the city of Belgorod, the “Municipal Guard”

on the basis of concluded contracts carries out the

protection of objects belonging to enterprises and

organizations of various forms of ownership. The

squads of the “Municipal Guard”, consisting of the

number of inspectors, are included in the plan for the

integrated use of forces and means on the territory of

the city. This allows for extremely coordinated

interaction in the implementation of the protection of

public order and ensuring public safety on the

territory of the city of Belgorod.

3 RESULTS

In 2020, with the participation of employees of the

institution of the “Municipal Guard”, a total of 1,609

administrative offenses were detected. The most

common among them were: 281– disorderly conduct,

220 – violation of the anti-alcohol legislation, the 85

– evasion from execution of administrative

punishment, 84 – unauthorized occupation of the

land, 56 – disturbances in the field of traffic, 50 –

failure to comply with administrative limitations and

failure to comply with obligations imposed under

administrative supervision.

Special attention is paid by the staff of the

“Municipal Guard” to the suppression of

administrative offenses provided for by the Law of

the Belgorod region of 04.07.2002 No. 35 “On

Administrative offenses in the territory of the

Belgorod region”.

In 2020 – 552 of such offense, including 276

violations of trade rules, 158 rules of landscaping,

gardening, maintenance of cleanliness and order on

the territory of urban and rural settlements, 81 –

statutory restrictions of Smoking tobacco, 31 – rules

of the maintenance of non-residential premises, 6

cases of violations of citizens peace and quiet at night

were detected.

More than 600 preventive interviews were

conducted with citizens engaged in illegal trade.

Together with the inspectors of the “Belgorod

Parking Space”, in the reporting period of this year,

work was carried out to identify violations of the rules

in paid parking lots of the city, 212,782 photo-

recordings of cars were made.

4 DISCUSSIONS

Using the example of the activity of the Municipal

Guard in the city of Belgorod, it is possible to clearly

demonstrate the possibility of participation of local

self-government bodies in the protection of public

Prospects of the Public Order Protection Organization at the Municipal Level in Russia

819

order and the implementation of public security on

the territory of the municipality.

The creation and operation of the Municipal

Guard in Belgorod is a typical example of the direct

participation of local self-government bodies in the

implementation of the rights assigned to local self-

government that meets the constitutional ideals of

civil society. Moreover, the analysis of the activity of

this structure on the example of the city of Belgorod,

allows us to evaluate it as quite effective.

The study of problems related to the protection of

public order, which are faced in municipalities, is

important for the functioning and development of the

rule of law. The legal consolidation of the list of

powers of the municipal police, forms of interaction

with state and municipal bodies largely depends on a

particular model of the system of municipal law

enforcement agencies, as well as on national

characteristics, local traditions, political, socio-

economic and territorial characteristics. However, at

the same time, we can say that the creation of a

municipal police will solve such age-old problems as

alienation from the served population, information

vacuum and social control.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The general problems of local initiatives to organize

the protection of public order at the municipal level

include the following:

1. The instability of these organizations, the main

reason for which is the lack of a legal framework.

Initiators are forced to develop their own regulatory

decisions on the ground, legitimizing the activities of

employees of such structures, the competence of their

control, supervision and preventive work.

2. Responding to changes in the course of federal

and regional authorities. This can explain the transfer

of tasks to municipal structures that were not initially

set: the coordination of people's squads,

strengthening work in the field of anti-terrorist

activities.

3. The main interest of the municipal authorities

is to monitor compliance with the regional

administrative legislation and the rules of

improvement.

4. Overburdened tasks and the growth of

statistical reporting, creating the risk of growth of the

management apparatus.

5. The management and the main staff are made

up of former employees of the internal affairs bodies.

On the one hand, these structures attract people who

understand and know what public order protection

and crime prevention are. At the same time, it also

brings risks, the main of which is the reproduction of

the "stick system" and the dominance of the

repressive understanding of prevention, the lack of

desire for a comprehensive view of the prevention of

offenses.

Based on the above, it can be concluded that the

municipal bodies of public order protection created

by local self-government bodies are understood as

law enforcement units created and financed by them,

whose main task is to protect the interests of citizens

living in the territory of municipalities, as well as

society and the state from criminal and other

encroachments within their competence.

To achieve a positive effect as a result of the

creation of municipal police units on the territory of

the Russian Federation, in our opinion, it will be

possible if:

 the powers of the employees of the municipal

police to ensure the protection of public order,

including those related to the prevention of

offenses committed by minors and against

minors, will be clearly defined;

 defined procedural powers in the proceedings

in cases of administrative offenses, the

responsibility for which is provided for by the

legislation of the subjects of the Russian

Federation on administrative offenses;

 defined at the legislative level, the full-time

number of employees, depending on the

number of people living in the territory of the

municipality and the state.

Among the difficulties in regulating public

relations associated with the creation of a municipal

police, one can distinguish:

 lack of a legal framework in the form of a

federal law on the establishment of a municipal

police;

 lack of a single algorithm for creating a

municipal police;

 the process of financing the municipal police in

the context of foreign economic instability and

the sanctions imposed on the Russian

Federation;

 ensuring the personal safety of the municipal

employee in the course of ensuring the

protection of public order.

Thus, the process of creating a municipal police

on the territory of the Russian Federation remains

controversial, and the issue of transferring law

enforcement functions from other law enforcement

agencies to the municipal police remains open, since

detailed study is needed related to the delineation of

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powers between state authorities and local self-

government bodies.

However, we still believe that the issue of creating

a municipal police in the Russian Federation has a

positive trend for its solution and we hope that in the

near future the employees of these bodies will take

part in the protection of public order throughout the

country. This will be possible only after the adoption

at the federal level of the relevant law, which will

regulate the current aspects of the activities and

organization of the municipal police service. As a

successful example of the functioning of the

municipal police, we can use the positive practical

experience of the administration of Belgorod on the

creation of the “Municipal Guard”.

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