Roles and responsibilities of public services Essay Example for Free

Roles and responsibilities of public services Essay The two public services which I have chosen to write about in my task 1 of the assignment are: * Police * Fire service POLICE: Police is a government organisation, which have a very important duty of maintaining law and order in the community. The work police come from the French, which refer to government or administration; the word police was coined in France in the 18th century. The police may also be known as a constabulary, after constables, who were an early manifestation of police officers. (www.en.wikipedia.org). POLICE FORCE STRUCTURE: Home office Police authority chief constable Home office is the government department and it has a full control on police, whereas home secretary, who works under prime minister and he/she is there to ensure that all the government polices carry out properly. Police authority is made up of local councillors (two third) and magistrates (one third), this is to make sure that the local public has an opinion about how the police force run in their region. Chief constable is the highest rank in the force, and he has an overall authority of maintaining and running the whole police departments. PURPOSE OF THE POLICE SERVICE: The purposes of the police service within a community are stated below: To prevent crime. To uphold law fairly and smoothly. To protect the community. To help crime victims. To pursue offenders and bring them to justice. TO PREVENT CRIME: Prevention of crime means to stop a crime before it happens. Police force prevent crime by visiting homes and businesses to offer them security devices and providing them information on how to perform security checks and about new security issues which mainly stop 80% of the crimes. Police also prevent crime by patrolling street and road on a regular basis. A recent crime surrey showed that the Derbyshire has the lowest crime rate in East Midlands. TO UPHOLD LAW FAIRLY AND SMOOTLY: This is one of the most important of responsibility of police forces to ensure that law and order is carried is fairly and smoothly, this includes the situations like arresting, searching suspects. Police forces have clearly full knowledge about law and legislations because their day to day works involves law and order. TO PROTECT THE COMMUNITY: The main purpose of police is to protect the community. Protection of community is one of the very important role of their job. They carry out this role by visiting school, houses, pubs etc and asking community opinions  about the different current issues which they are concerned about e.g. drugs at the moment in Derby (Drug squad Steve Holme visited Derby College to high light this issue). TO HELP CRIME VICTIMS: Helping is another role of their job, this is done by officers to make sure that no one feel deserted in the community and also victims feel secure and comfortable, thinking about that they are safe in the society. TO PURSUE OFFENDERS AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE: Pursuing criminals is another purpose of police force. Pursuing criminals help a community in cutting down their crime figure and most of all it helps in keeping the peace. Due to the higher level of outcomes e.g. reduction in crime, criminals feels fear and community feel safe etc this is done on regular basis. An example of this was the case happened a few months ago where a female copper called pc Sharon Beshenivsky has got murdered in Bradford. Since her murder police have made several arrests for her killers. ROLES OF THE POLICE: The police force throughout in UK is responsible for maintaining law and order in their region. The roles and responsibilities of police consist on variety of tasks e.g. Dealing with accidents, dealing with emergencies, anti-terrorist. DEALING WITH ACCIDENTS: Accidents includes death, theft, robbery, minor offences speeding, fighting, etc police is well trained for tackling these type of situations, so and they always try their best to arrive on these situations as quick as possible just to get more and accurate information about the incident through witnesses and evidence and help the victims if any. It is very important for police to manipulate the situation no matter how worse is it because if they cannot do them than there is no point of their existence. Police normally work as a team to tackle big crises e.g. In London bombing police played a crucial part in bringing the peace back into city although too many people died in the bombing but the most important thing to notice is the amount of people police has had saved after taking over the situation. DEALING WITH EMERGENCIES: Accident happens at anytime so there must be some one who takes the response over them. So generally speaking in UK police is the only organisation who deals with local incidents. Emergencies includes like, chemical accidents, rail crashes, fire, flood, land slide bomb, hijacking etc, in certain other situations police works closely with other emergencies services like fire fighters, paramedics to take control on it. A very recent example of this is the petrol refinery explosion in Hemel Hempstead, where police took over the situation and clear out all the locals who were endanger from their houses. DEALING WITH TERRORIST ACTIVITIES: Mostly special police branch handles anti-terrorist work, but in case of real emergency local police member helps them in carrying out the task, as well as Special Forces, local police is also well trained in handling terrorist work. The example of this is the situation happened two months ago, where Special Forces mistakenly suspect a terrorist and shot him to death at London terrorist bombing. This incident caused a lot of crises between police and local public. The over view of this incident taken from www.google.co.uk is written below. Electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead on 22 July, 2005, by police  who mistook him for one of four would-be suicide bombers who attacked Londons transport system the previous day. Police in the capital were on heightened alert as they hunted the attackers, who struck just two weeks after 52 people were killed in similar co-ordinated suicide bombings. In the hours after the shooting but before police realised their mistake Scotland Yard said it had been directly linked to their anti-terrorist operation. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair told a news conference: As I understand the situation, the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions. The Yard said his clothing and behaviour at the station added to their suspicions. But when it emerged that the 27-year-old Brazilian was not the man they thought he was and that his death had been a mistake Sir Ian described it as a tragedy for which the police accepted full responsibility. In London bombing special police force teamed up with local police from all over the region, to help in patrolling London train stations. RESPONSIBILITIES OF POLICE: Police responsibilities include carrying out all the above purpose and roles. They are also responsible for doing their job properly and are inspected to ensure their efficiency. The other responsibilities includes meet targets for detection, lower down the crime rate, provide a responsible service to the people of the community as they are employed by the community to provide a service and so the community should have the means to ensure that they are getting the service and their money is wisely spent. Police also has a responsibility to communicate with the general public and work in a partnership because this helps them to maintain trust and ensure effective policing. FIRE FIGHTER: (Fire Service badge) ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A FIRE FIGHTER: The main purpose of the fire services or fire fighters to protect and save people and property from fire and other hazards in the most competent and effective manner to the highest possible standards of care and quality. ROLES: The role of Derbyshire fires service is to protect life and property and providing a quality fire safety service. Their other roles include: To practice and promote the health and safety polices, to contribute to the Development and progression of health and safety. To conduct higher standard of communications in emergency situation. Respect and be confident about the job. Another role of a fire fighter is to take part in the routine training practices and development review process. Another very important role of fire services is to promote the policy of equality and fairness, both internally and externally in order to demonstrate commitment to anti discriminatory practice. RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF FIRE A FIGHTER: The main important responsibilities and duties of a fire fighter are: To respond immediately and safely to all emergency calls. To deal with an emergency work quickly, effectively and efficiently as a member of a disciplined team. To communicate with other emergency personnel at incidents. To established and maintain the confidence of members of the public and maintain links with the community. To give general fire safety advice and guidance to people when requested. To work to help educate members of the community in the risks and hazards of fire. To ensure personal safety and that of others at all times. To keep a level of physical and mental fitness necessary to carry out all the duties of a fire fighter. To maintain a personal appearance, hygiene and cleanliness of uniform in keeping with a disciplined service. To maintain personal appearance, hygiene and cleanliness of uniform in keeping with a disciplined service. To maintain all fire fighting and emergency equipment in a state of readiness including cleaning, repairing and testing as required and to approved standards and procedures. To check fire fighting resources provided for fire service use including hydrants and fixed installations. To know the local streets, roads and buildings situated around the fire station area. To be aware of the risks, possible hazards and water supplies to be found  within the fire station area. To complete basic paperwork and routine administration including recording of information. To keep records up to date as necessary. To take part in a continuous training programme by attending lectures, exercises, practice drill sessions and other forms of training to maintain competence levels.