The article analyses historical facts, requirements of laws and by-laws which regulated the activities of special police units in different periods through the prism of modern realities. It has been concluded that these units have gone through a rather long historical path of their formation and development, which we propose to divide into six stages. Stage I (1709–1917) – formation of the land militia, which can be considered the first example of the existence of modern special police units; Stage II (1917–1941) – characterised by the creation of Ukrainian voluntary militia and military formations; Stage III (1941–1978) – a period of stagnation in the history of the formation of special police units due to the events of the First and Second World Wars; Stage IV (1978–1991) – creation of the first special unit in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR at the official level – a special police detachment; Stage V (1991–2014) – associated with Ukraine’s independence and the creation of Berkut special police unit, Titan special police unit, Sokil rapid response unit; Stage VI (2014 – present) – formation of special police units that actively participate in armed conflicts; this stage was influenced by three key events: 1) the anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine, which was later called the “Joint Forces Operation”, which led to the creation of a number of volunteer special units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine; 2) the creation of the National Police of Ukraine and the formation of special units within its structure (the Rapid Action Corps, the Special Police Patrol Service and the Tactical Response Unit); 3) Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which led to the creation of a militarised special police unit, the “Luty” Joint Assault Brigade of the National Police of Ukraine and the “Safari” assault regiment of the National Police.