Policing In Rapid Environments-memo

1 1. INTRODUCTION Upon leaving the pleasant world of theory and entering the harsh world of reality, we find rapid changing environments and natural disasters that may warrant government intervention which is there to improve the general welfare of its citizens. Devastation of an area by fire inter alia requires that policy makers assess the impact on the economic, social and healthy environments. The problem of service delivery can be effectively tackled using policy as an enabling function. The problem after the devastation (for example in Australia by wild fires) is that, the rendering of services was seriously disrupted during the process. Perceptions of a policy problem are where those involved in the policy area perceive that something is not functioning correctly and seek alterations in the existing pattern(Brynard P.A,2006;360)1. Rochefort and Cobb (1994:17) refer severity as to how serious a problem and its consequences are perceived to be. Therefore, the citizens lack clean water, transport facilities, medical care, and proper food as well as sanitary facilities.

On a devastated environment, it is unlikely that the existing policies will be able to achieve the ostensible goals. This calls for the analysis and evaluation of the existing policy in order to make an effective policy for the problems at hand. The assignment is to analyse and evaluate the existing policies, how they can be reinforced to adapt the changing environments in the form of disasters such as fires.lt is worth because the impact of the rapid changing environment will in certain ways affect the welfare of the citizens in terms of economic, social and healthy well-being .Firstly the background to the problem will be explained with the aid of specific references. Secondly, it will be explained that existing policy arrangements will do less in ensuring effective service rendering. Thirdly, the impact of devastation on various environment types will be outlined. Fourthly the arrangements for solving service delivery will be discussed. Lastly the recommendations will be discussed as well as the administrative implications thereof. A deductive, scientific approach will be used in this assignment. Text books in various fields specifically Public Administration, newspapers, journals as well as articles will be used to augment and supportrelevant facts and values. 2. BACKGROUND

Brynard, P.A :Journal of Public Administration,vol.41,no.2.2 August 2006pp360

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2 For certain, the modern state is now experiencing the most rapid change in its history. There is little agreement, however, on where this change is leading or what its ultimate outcome and meaning may be. A hurricane of change is sweeping through all human institutions, upsetting, devastating, and creating more in an era than ever before.ln the last couple of years, the effectiveness of public policies has been diluted due unforeseeable fatalities leading to lack of public services. Climate changes, natural disasters as well as human negligence have all attributed to the need to re-visit public policies because of the devastations done in the process. The recent wild fires which broke in Melbourne and nearby towns in Australia speak volumes. “Wild fires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather drought and tinder-dry bush has created prime conditions for the blazes to take hold. Green lawmakers have been urging stiffer climate change policies to reduce the risk of more such summer disasters”(The Herald, Monday 9 February 2009,1:1)During the fire blazes more than 200 people were reported dead with more than 1800 homes destroyed in the country’s worst fire disaster (Herald, Tuesday 24 Feb,2009,7:1).These dramatic and scornful events have led to unrest of the citizens as some were dead others injured left with no food, water and in need of medical attention . 3 .THE EXISTING POLICY ARRANGEMENTS Certainly due to the devastations of the area, the existing policy arrangements will not be able to help effectively and efficiently render the services to the members of the community hence the need to examine,analyse and evaluate the loopholes so as to establish an effective policy for the re-development of the distracted services. Meiring (2008:20) writes that the rendering of public services necessitates that it be indicated where the policymakers want to go and what they want to achieve in the development of a specific area, for example the state, province or a municipal area. Policies are made and implemented to enable service to humanity thus the raison d’etre is to promote the general welfare of the citizens.lt is therefore cardinal in this situation that an effective policy be put in place to ensure provision of proper food, clean water, ideal accommodation and basic medical care. Cloete et al (2006:239) write that, public officials especially at top and middle levels, act as advisors on policy, policy formulation and policy implementation and also as policy monitors thus comparing results with intentions and that policy change takes place throughout the policy life-cycle.lt is from this elevation that the existing policy should be reviewed to accommodate the effects of devastation.

3 Stephen Dovers2 argues that better public policy is the key to creating a more sustainable environment. Thus only by having effective policies will help in achieving the present needs without compromising the future needs of citizens. 4. THE IMPACT OF THE DEVASTATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT The environment is time and place bound.Meiring (2008:27) writes that, chief officials face a major challenge to design strategies that will work effectively in a unique environment, to exploit environmental opportunities and thus cope with unique environmental forces that affect it. Chief officials as well as politicians need to acknowledge the impact of the devastations on the various types of environments in order to wedge an effective policy to provide the services in as efficient as possible. Thus the impact of any devastation will take place in a specific environment. The affected environments can be distinguished as economic environment, social environment as well as the health environment. 4.1 Impact on the Economic Environment The economic environment is defined by infrastructure which enables officials and citizens to enjoy their routine activities. After the devastation (for example in Australia by wild fires, 1800 homes had been destroyed, cars burnt, clothes, personal belongings burnt, buildings damaged).In some cases bridges are swept away by floods. These destructions would certainly disrupt the daily functioning of the day to day activities and therefore demand immediate financial assistance for the reconstruction process. The unemployment rate would increase while on the other hand, economic growth, consumer and investor confidence inventory levels, merchandise trade balance,financial and political health of the citizens would drastically fall due to the damaging of work places where citizens used to do their duties. The instability in the economic environment will normally have an effect on the social environment

4.2 lmpact on the Social Environment Once the economic environment is tempered with the social services will be affected. Social services refer to collective interventions which are outside the market place to meet the needs of individuals as well as to serve the corporate interests of the wider community. The activities of teachers, social workers as well as other helping professions are considered as social services(Rein:1970;47).Henshel and Henshel(1973;79) write that crime is generally considered one of the most severe of social problems. Kinglake is "where Journal of Public Administration,vol.41,no.2June-2006pp140

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4 the most deaths are, but wherever a death has occurred we investigate that as a crime," said the Australian Police Commissioner commenting after the 2009February wild fires in Australia. Thus after devastations of human nature investigations are instituted as arson constitutes a criminal case. After the devastations by fire in Australia, some teachers could not attend to their duties because the devastation caused a multitude of urgent problems in, houses, roads electricity, water.These problems resulted in healthy problems. 4.3 lmpact on the Health Environment The devastation of an area by fire can have far outweighing repacurtions on the health of human kind. The destruction of flora and fauna can lead to deadly air pollution which means there will be unhealthy breathing air for the citizens. Meanwhile the burning of oxides and fuel as well as gases from refrigerators will increase the emission of Chloro-Fluoro-Carbons (CFS) which will deplete the ozone layer in the long run. The impact on disrupted water services as well as sewerage reticulation will pose a serious threat of water borne diseases such as cholera It can be deduced that, in the face of devastation in a community, assets are destroyed, social life and services distracted and the healthy of citizens threatened. The impact will therefore require an effective policy to ensure that services are offered to the required standards. 5. ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE PROBLEM OF SERVICE DELIVERY USING POLICY AS AN ENABLING FUNCTION Cloete et al (2006:239) are of the opinion that, the most effective type of change is the so-called pre-emptive or pro-active policy change in which policy-makers predict the environmental changes and decide to adapt their policies timeously or beforehand in order to prepare for these events.The problems of service delivery are worth preventing as they guarantee political supremacy but once a crisis has hit environmental scanning to gather information and liason of interested parties becomes inevitable if the problem is to be addressed effectively and efficiently. 5.1 Environmental Scanning It is challenging to design and conduct effective environmental scans in a public sector environment because of the many demands and the heterogenous character of the public that is served. Environmental scanning is a process of gathering, analyzing, and dispensing information for tactical or strategic purposes. The environmental scanning process entails obtaining both factual and subjective(www.wikipedia.com). The gathering of large amount of information to

5 measure and study the changes in the environment is very important for any business to get the latest information about the environment to keep business steady and stable. In large and small organization the environmental scanning is must (www.blurtit.com). Upon devastation of an area, environmental scanning is a must ;ad-hoc scanning would be ideal as the new environment has been caused by crisis. Environmental scanning usually refers just to the macro environment which involves, The Economy, Government, Legal, Technology, Ecology, and Socio-Cultural which are to be outlined below. 5.1.1 Government Political climate - amount of government activity, political stability and risk, government debt, budget deficit or surplus are factors of concern when scanning the environment. 5.1.2 The Economy There should be enough research and consideration as to how the following factors have been affected by the devastation; economic growth, unemployment rate, consumer and investor confidence inventory levels, merchandise trade balance financial and political health of the citizens ,future trends. 5.1.3 Legal Environmental protection laws, worker safety laws, union laws, copyright and patent laws, municipal licences,laws that favour business investment. Thus there is need to have legal experts to review the existing laws establishing whether they are still effective. 5.1.4 Technology The efficiency of infrastructure, including: roads, ports, airports, rolling stock, hospitals, education, healthcare, communication; industrial productivity; new manufacturing processes; new services ; cost and accessibility of electrical power, water after the devastation should be established. 5.1.5 Ecology Ecological concerns that affect the government’s service rendering processes, citizens’ habits as well as citizens' perception of the services of the government should be established to determine the intervention needed to normalize the natural ecosystem. The impact of smokes from fires, dead animals, and polluted water should all be established.

6 5.1.6 Socio-Cultural Demographic factors such as: population size and distribution, age distribution, education levels, income levels, ethnic origins, religious affiliations. attitudes towards: materialism, individualism, role of family, role of government, collectivism ,role of church and religion ,consumerism, environmentalism ,importance of work, pride of accomplishment ,cultural structures including diet and nutrition as well as housing conditions 5.1.7 Potential Suppliers Labour supply; quantity and quality of labour available, Stability of labour supply wage expectations ,educational facilities. Material suppliers; quality, quantity, price, and stability of material inputs as delivery delays, proximity of bulky or heavy material inputs. Service Providers; quantity, quality, price, and stability of service facilitators and special requirements. This should be done to prepare for the invitation of tenders to offer specific services. Thus environment scanning involves the examination of how the government, economy, legal, technology, ecology, socio-cultural factors to study and measure the changes in the environment. 5.2 The Role of Politicians and chief officials The politicians should consult with the judiciary, how the service rendering might affect the human rights. The Bill of Rights3 places the right to healthy environment, shelter and other basic necessities to the people in the Republic of South Africa. Chief officials, the Municipal Managers should assess the intensity of destruction and make a report to the politicians who should also come to assess the impact on the welfare of the inhabitants of the area in question. The judiciary plays a special role of interpreting the extent to which the government is providing services to its people.Moreso the general public will always have to be consulted. 5.3The Role of Judiciary According to Nakamura and Smallhood (1980:85) judicial action has played a significant role in determining and enforcing societal priorities in civil rights, education, criminal procedures, environmental protection and many other areas.Jugdes are not politicians in the conventional sense but sometimes formulate The Constitution ,Act 108 of 1996,Chapter 2

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7 far-reaching policies.ln a situation where devastation causes a humanitarian crises judges may formulate urgent policies to protect the rights of the citizens. Thus the final policy made by the politicians and public officials must be coherent and consistent with judicial rulings and policies since they are responsible for interpreting the law of the state. The judiciary usually makes proclamations on matters raised by the civil society or the general public. 5.4 The Role of Inhabitants/Civil Society Civil society, in a democratic government, is a channel through which citizens participate in making and implementing public decisions; in identifying, prioritizing and resolving public problems, and in allocating and managing public resources.4Thus whenever an issue or matter of public interest arises whether in a normal or rapid changing environment the people should be constantly consulted as to how which services should be provided first. Citizens are the reason why states and governments exists therefore they should not be taken for granted especially on matters which involve their welfare. Solving the crisis of service delivery therefore requires environmental scanning to study and measure the changes in the environment, consultation with the judiciary as well as the citizens of the affected environment. Thus has been proved that a an existing policy will not sustain service delivery in case of a devastation such as that caused by fire in Australia hence the need to solve the problem by making a new policy.

6. CONCLUSION In the face of devastation in a rapid changing environment the rendering of services is distracted affecting the welfare of the citizens thus the current policy becomes obsolete and ineffective. The impact of the devastation on the economic, social and health environments should be established before any action is taken. The problems of service delivery can be solved using policy as an enabling function. Environmental scanning to study and measure the changes in the environment and corporative interaction of politicians, chief officials the judiciary and citizens will only enable an effective policy to re-develop the devastated community. Journal of Public Administration,vol.40,no.4.1 December 2005pp667

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7. RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT THE PROBLEM OF SERVICE DELIVERY States are central to development and human well-being (Crisis States Research Centre-2005)5.In the community where possible crisis in service delivery might occur due to rapid change in environment such as fires,floods,earthquakes politicians ,officials and citizens should adapt and corporate before the real crisis hits on the welfare.This is supported by Botes et al(1992:312),who write that one characteristic which distinguish public policies from goals and administrative decisions is that;it should be flexible and adaptable.The rigid and inexorable implementtion of an unsuitable or obsolete policy is worse than applyng no policy at all.lt is therefore necessary for those occupying influential positions in the government; the politicians and public officials to always strive for improvement of services to the general public. According to Anderson(2006;272),many states require periodic automobile safety inspections in an attempt to reduce highway traffic accidents and fatalities.Research shows that states in mandatory inspection laws do tend to have fewer traffic fatalities than do other states, although other factors count. This allows for the assertion that prevention is better than cure. The traditional approach6 has four phases of disaster management; prevention/mitigation,preparedness,response and recovery. Thegovernment should prioritise recovery phase,in which temporary housing, food and clothing, job assistance and loans to re-start small business, debris clearance and critical stress debriefing.ln summary l recommend the following be carried out; -temporary housing be provided -food and clothing be provided to those who were affected -job assistance and loans to re-start businesses be provided -any debris be cleared -those affected by stress to get critical stress debriefing Crisis States Research Centre-2005;Studies in Comparative lnternational Development.,Vol 43 no.3/4 Fall/winter(2008) 6 Uys F(2005).Approaches to Disaster Management.Journal of Public Administration.Volume40, number32, November pp410 5

9 8 .ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATIONS 8.1 Policy Implications -The policy that spells out what needs to be will have to be coherent and effective.The goals will be tacitly outlined as to what services should actually be rendered. 8.2 Financial Implications Meiring (2001:130) writes that every work by municipal official has a financial implication. Thus there is need for special budgetary arrangements, control measures and accounting requirements to ensure the best utilization of the available resources. -Economic resources are needed to support health personnel, hospitals clinics, drugs and equipment. Since in most cases the health system is provided with a mandate that usually grants the system a quasi-monopoly on the performance of health services, in line with legislation and regulation by the political system (Heidenheimer, Arnold J., 1975;179).Thus in such a situation there is need to urgently mobilize as much finances as possible from both the government as well as the corporate world to deal precisely with the new healthy demands among other basic social services. -A new policy would seek a surplus budget requiring R20 million to accommodate the new scale of service requirements. The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a A$10 million (R64 million) aid package to rescue the service delivery programme (The Herald Monday 9 February 2009,1:1).In the situation of a new policy in a new environment some additional finances to accommodate the new demands in as effective and efficient as possible would certainly be needed. 8.3 Organising Implications -The behaviour of the public officials as well as other parties involved should be regulated. -Thus work units;posts,sections,divisions and departments should have to be reestablished.Lines of authority and behaviour relationships,clear communication channels should be vividly pronounced before the operational work initiates.Functions should be allocated and authority delegated effectively. 8.4 Personnel Implications -Fire fighters from as far as Mpumalanga and Gauteng were battling to put off the fires in the Western Cape region of Paarl(etv-news,06 February 2009).Thus

10 explains the need for manpower from other regions to complement the available workforce to put out the devastation in progress and to rebuild the infrastructure after the devastations. An additional number of health care workers as well as social workers will be needed to treat and counsel people for injuries sustained and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). - New employees should be recruited, selected and placed and trained for the particular tasks and duties they will be doing. -The existing workforce should also be trained to adjust to the current thrust service provision. 8.5 Procedure Implications -New procedures for each operational activity to provide for the required infrastructure to be erected.This will result in the best quantitative and qualitative work performance as Meiring (2008:23) writes it. -Determination of new working procedures requires that,work be analysed,divided into operational steps,each step be described and arranged in chronological order,formulation,approval and publication of procedure,allocation of procedure to posts as well as execution of procedure 8.6 Control Implications Babu and Reidhead 20007 are of the view that periodic monitoring of changes in the conditions of natural resources and their sustainable use is fundamental to generating information for planning and policy making.Thus a need to, render accountability on how service rendering is progressing as well demanding accountability by the politicians and citizens. -lnspections, auditing and reporting on finances and resources’ utilisation are some control measures that can be used to exercise control. -Control measures and standards should be established, control exercised as well as taking corrective steps.

Land use Policy vol 17 no.1 January 2000,Suresh Chandra Babu*,William Reidhead,Washington DC,pp1

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Resolutions of The Minister

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REFERENCES TEXT BOOKS 1. Anderson J.E (2006): Public Policy Making 6TH edition (Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 2. Botes P.S, Brynard, Fourie D.J, Roux N.L (1992): Public Administration and Management: A Guide to Central, Regional and Municipal Administration and Management, KagisoTertiary South Africa. 3. Cloete .F, .Wissink, H.and C.de Coning (2006): lmproving Public Policy-From theory to practice, Van Schaik, Pretoria. 4. David A. Rochefort and Roger W. Cobb (1994) (Eds.), The Politics of Problem Definition: Shaping the Policy Agenda. Lawrence: University F*ress of Kansas. 5. Heidenheimer, Arnold J., (1975); Comparative public policy: the politics of social choice in Europe and America London: Macmillan. 6. Henshel R.L and Henshel A.M (1973); Perspectives on Social Problems, 2nd Edition, Academic Press, Canada. 7. Meiring, M.H (2008): The Essence of the Public Policy Process (Alice: Department of Public Administration, UFH). 8. Meiring M.H (2001); Fundamental Public Administration Perspective on Development, 2nd Edition UPE. 9. Nakamura R.T, and Smallwood F(1980);The Politics of Policy lmplimentation;St Martins Press ,New York. 10. Stephen Dovers(2005) Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation and Evaluation , The Federation Press.

JOURNALS

13 1. Brynard, P.A (2006).The Nature of the Policy Problem. Journal of Public Administration.volume.41, number.2.2 August 2006 2. Uys F (2005).Approaches to Disaster Management.Journal of Public Administration.Volume40, number32, November 3. Crisis States Research Centre (2005).Studies in Comparative lnternational Development.Volume 43 number 3/4 Fall/winter (2008) 4. Mukamunana, R and Brynard (2005).The Role of Civil Society Organisations in Policy making Process in Rwanda. Journal of Public Administration. volume.40, number 4.1 December, special issue, SA 5. Suresh Chandra Babu*, William Reidhead (2000). Land use Policy. Volume 17 number 1 January, Washington DC LEGISLATIONS Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 The Constitution of South Africa Act 108 of 1996

NEWSPAPERS The Herald Monday 9 February 2009 Etv-news, 06 February 2009 The Herald, Tuesday 24 Feb, 2009, 7:1)

WEBSITES http//www.blurtit.com- as it appeared on 4 March 2009 23:05:04GMT (Accessed on 09 March 2009) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_scanning- as it appeared on 1 Mar 2009 06:00:45 GMT ((Accessed on 09 March 2009)