Watts Response
Good Afternoon Professor and Class,
Why is the radically different stakeholder perspective in a significant issue challenging for the public safety administrator.
– reflect on the current issues in law enforcement and citizen interaction?
The cruxs of different stakeholder perspective on significant issues is not an easily solved problem for the public safety administrator. It is important to remember that the public safety professional has two sets of people that he or she has to deal with on a daily basis which consists of organizational stakeholders and community stakeholders. With that being said, the different perspectives from each set of stakeholders spans across many diverse generations which leads to conflicting opinions not only from a law enforcement standpoint but, from a community standpoint as well (Batts, Smoot, & Scrivner, 2012).
Often, an issue or problem is a wicked problem which is a social or cultural problem that is interconnected to another issue that is difficult or impossible to solve (Wicked Problems, n.d.). However, not all hard-to-solve problems are wicked, only those with an indeterminate scope and scale (Wicked Problems, n.d.). The public safety administrator has to have the ability and foresight to see both sides of an issue and embody an array of problem solving skills that are learned by various interpersonal relationships over time. Given the scope of and breadth of the public safety administrator, it is paramount that the individual chosen to lead these agencies must have impeccable judgement and incessant emotional intelligence that in order to make sound decisions.
Issue – Federal Governments Role in As an example, lets look at the issues of excessive use of force for the local and state public safety administrator. Federal policymakers will always have sympathy on both sides of the fence in regards to excessive use of force which is an issue for community and law enforcement stakeholders. Recently, policymakers have sought to raise awareness of excessive use of force by challenging and addressing state and local law enforcement procedures and policies. Federal policymakers argue that the excessive use of force is a contributor to the lack of community trust in police.
Dilemma – the United States federalized system of government restricts the amount of influence Congress can have over state and local law enforcement policies. However, Congress may choose to impose conditions on federal grant awards to state and local governments as a way to influence state and local policies on policing. This process ultimately leads to fragmented federalism in which states and the federal government simultaneously pursue their own policy priorities, and policy implementation often occurs in a piecemeal, disjointed fashion (FAS.ORG, 2018). As you can see, this process hinders the forward momentum of community and police relations to say the least, not to mention the role of the public safety administrator and the political aspects of the job.
V/r
Dave Watts
References:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. (n.d.). Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving . Retrieved January 20, 2020, from: https://www.wickedproblems.com/1_wicked_problems.php
Batts, A. W., Smoot, S. M., & Scrivner, E. (2012, July). Police Leadership Challenges in a Changing World. Retrieved from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/238338.pdf
Federation of American Scientists. (2018). Congressional Research Service. Public Trust and Law Enforcement – A Discussion for Policymakers. Retrieved from:
