Public Administration Developing a Successful Public Service

Public Administration Developing a successful public service culture for a criminal justice agency might sound simple at first, but it is more complicated than many might realize. Just because a person chooses the criminal justice environment does not necessarily mean they have a "service" mentality. Creating an effective service oriented criminal justice agency would include creating motives for the employees which were rooted in emotional value, such as an incarceration environment where the guards could see emotional and social progress in the prison population.

The prison population was encouraged to recreate their lives so they could be productive and valuable citizens when they were released, and the guards and administration would help in the process so they created their own emotional value in their jobs, and in the lives of others. This would include creating prisoner programs that would encourage personal growth and value enhancement. Many of the current prisoner guide and service dog programs are representative of this kind of program.

Creating emotional value in the criminal justice environment is not always easy, but creating an effective service oriented environment will not only aid in creating happier and healthier employees, it will aid the public in creating a more useful, service-oriented mentality for everyone who deals with the public in criminal justice. 4. Public budgets are highly political documents because they deal with public funds, and because they in effect represents the political interests of various groups who have political clout with the legislative bodies which develop the budgets.

Negotiation, compromise, and strategic bargaining create most public budgets, and while economists and accountants initially develop them, their final approval usually rests in the hands of elected officials, who may have other agendas. Certainly public budgets reflect what the people think is most important, but they also reflect what elected officials think will make their constituents happy, levered with what will make special interest groups with political clout happy.

It is also a method to distribute the wealth more evenly, but that depends on which programs receive funding, and how important redistributing tax dollars to all levels of society is to the legislative body. Public budgets are political because they create a link between people and politicians in the budgetary process, and because they are formed with citizenry in mind, with public funds. 5. "Advocacy coalitions" and "issue networks" contrast with "iron triangles" in many ways which apply to the local level of government.

"Iron triangles" are made up of three key groups: Congress, particularly Congressional leaders, special interest groups, and career public officials. They form a united front that creates legislation and governmental policies which benefit their own interests, and those of the other members of the group. "Issue networks" and "advocacy coalitions" differ from these iron triangles in that they also wield power, and they can highly influence political decisions.

Issue networks are often made up of anonymous individuals who believe in what they do, and can argue issues based on alternatives, rather than economic benefit. Issue networks and advocacy coalitions are usually emotionally involved with the issues, and they often begin their arguments with local governments.

In the case of the jail next to the Galleria, an iron triangle of legislators, county officials, and contractors may have agreed on the site for a jail, but local issue networks and advocacy coalitions, using a grassroots network of word of mouth and political activism, could oppose the jail site for numerous reasons, including public safety, and swing the balance of public opinion to demand a new jail site.

These types of groups are often very powerful and can create or change public opinion, especially when emotionally charged issues are involved. 6. Orange County's bankruptcy woes were created by a variety of factors.

The most important factors were: the antiquated system of government which had been devised in the latter part of the 19th century, lack of control or even understanding of the county fund manager's tactics, the inability of the county treasurer to enact a last ditch emergency effort to save the fund, because of laws prohibiting any kind of special meeting in under 24 hours, and lawyers who seemed to have only their own interests at heart, rather than the financial security of the county.

This fiscal disaster could have been avoided in many ways. First, the county commissioner system was antiquated, and left no room for emergencies. The county administration needed to be revamped, and if the commissioners could have held an emergency meeting, they might have been able to prevent the bankruptcy. Modern city government is very different from the ideals created in the 1800s, and cities must reevaluate their forms of government and meeting laws to be more effective in the 21st century.

In addition, the county fund manager essentially had no one controlling his investments and activities, and no one else understood what he was doing. There should have been much more control placed on his activities, beginning with the board of supervisors on down the chain of command. No one person should have the entire fiscal control of a government's investments. If more governments used creative, businesslike solutions in recreating their functions as they looked toward the future, things like the Orange County bankruptcy would be far less likely to occur. 7.

Ethical and moral behavior in policing is absolutely essential if a police department is to be trusted by the community it serves. However, the morality and ethics of each individual in the department must also take into account the position they play in the community, and the ultimate purpose of their activity. For example, an undercover officer must lie about who he is and what he does as a result of his.