Abstract: The subject of the research is the attempts to create the municipal militsia in modern Russia.The object of the research is the reform of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation at the present stage in the aspect of their interaction with local authorities in the field of public order protection. The authors consider such aspects of the topic as the background of the issue, conceptual differences between the state militsia and the municipal militsia, regulatory framework for the participation of local governments in the protection of public order, legal conflicts on this issue, accumulated experience of legal regulation on the protection of public order in municipalities, positions of various parties on the problem under study. Special attention is paid to the problems and prospects of creating the municipal militsia in Russia. In the course of the study the authors apply the formal-logical method, comparative-historical method, system analysis of the Russian legislation provisions, and comparative law analysis. The main conclusions of the study are the recognition that at the present stage there are no prospects for the creation of a municipal police in Russia, because the opinions of the parties are diametrically opposed and only a manifestation of the political will of the state can bring them to consensus. Special contribution of the authors to the study of the topic is their invitation to realize that the creation of the municipal militsia should not be an end in itself, the proposal to exclude from the Federal Law "On the general principles of local government organization in the Russian Federation" the rule on municipal police, the proposal to use the domestic pre-revolutionary experience. The novelty of the study is caused by the fact that the authors analyze the provisions of Russian legislation relating to the participation of local authorities in the protection of public order and prospects for the municipal militsia in Russia.