The paper first elaborates basic theoretical and practical political and legal factors which determine the position of the police; it then explains the role of police within the corrective state apparatus. At the same time terms of ’centralism’ and ’decentralization’, as principles of organizing government agencies, as well as police and security services, are being discussed from the point of view of their territorial division; organization and the status of security in the past two decades of the development of the Republic of Serbia are also presented. Experiences in the field of police organization and operation are being analyzed in context of police reform and prevailing theories on incorporating the police into a local community.