Abstract: The research subject is social relations involving voluntary participation of citizens in the activities aimed at public order protection. The research object is the cooperation between citizens and police officers aimed at public order protection. The authors study such aspects of the topic as cooperation and its effectiveness using the example of the police and citizens. The authors consider in detail the content of the term ‘cooperation’ and the effectiveness of such activities in terms of the current socio-economic relations. The authors study the key directions of interaction of the police and citizens on issues of public order protection, analyze the content of these activities using the experience in Russia and abroad. The research is based on the complex usage of general scientific methods of cognition along with empirical and theoretical approaches. The authors conclude that it is necessary to correct statistical registration of the effectiveness of public activities aimed at public order protection which help to monitor the situation; to focus the volunteering citizens’ potential on the fixation of wrongdoings, which can help searching for and checking factual circumstances of the events under consideration.