According to the development plan of Estonia’s internal security, safety means a stable living environment in which a person feels oneself safe. Local governments play important role providing security. This role can be effective only when there is successful cooperation with the police and other law enforcement organisations, but also with the citizens. Modern society is a complicated system of communication, which in turn is divided into sub-systems. We could call such systems self-referential, which means they define and choose their own base elements which guarantee the functioning of the system. Here autopoiesis is applied as the local governments form a kind of autonomous system in a legal order. This system functions according to the valid Constitution but still has enough legal autonomy in order to function independently. Upon using the terminology of the system-theory, we can say that local government is a structure that is a sub-system of a thorough system (state) and the autonomy given to a sub-system creates prerequisites for both functional and legal autopoiesis in the area of internal security. The main responsibilities of local governments in Estonia are stated in the local government law. The law does not state that municipalities have certain internal security or security related tasks (like fulfilling the functions of the police or rescue services). On the other hand, in some extent these responsibilities may arise from special laws or national strategies. Unfortunately, there are many problems in practice. There are also internal risks, such as corruption, hindering the internal security related auditing in the municipalities of Estonia. Often local regulations are not sufficient for carrying out such activities. Usually providing internal security in the communal level is carried out in cooperation with state structures.