The article analyzes changes in the structure of the law enforcement bodies of the towns of Simbirsk, Saratov, Penza, Samara (from 1851) provinces that occurred during the 1770-1850s. The author aims to examine the structure and mechanisms of interaction of public order enforcement bodies in the towns of the Middle Volga and Trans-Volga region. Over the “long XVIII century” there were attempts to regulate their activity, to separate civil police from military law enforcement bodies. At the same time the peculiarities of historical development of regional towns - “internal outskirts of the Empire” - and social situation in the provinces did not allow the authorities to completely abandon municipal military units represented by Internal Guard, and in some towns - by Cossack divisions. Moreover, public order in the provincial towns was maintained not only by the urban police but also by gendarme squads. Regardless of certain achievements in the arrangement of law enforcement structures in the provinces, the problem of staffing the law enforcement sphere remained relevant during the whole period.