The paper has brought to light some institutional and legitimate aspects of operation of the county police patrols in the Russian Empire. Documents having once been unfamiliar for the large audience are introduced to the academic and scholar turnover, namely the data on operation of the county police patrols in the Saratov province, all being dated back to 1907.

The article considers the issues connected with implementation of restoring at present time system of crime prevention. The analysis of crime rate in Russia has been carried out, its negative tendencies and the most important directions for crime prevention in Russia has been pointed out.