Gordon P. Whitaker

Coproduction: Citizen Participation in Service Delivery

which it was applied. Second, the automated selection of high priority cases by PROMIS was used as a back-up for manual selection during much of the first two years of operation. Eventually the automated selection of high priority cases for special pretrial preparation was discontinued. These factors suggest that, while the PROMIS development may have been instrumental in the establishment of the Special Litigation Unit, the operation of the Special Litigation Unit soon became relatively independent of PROMIS. A more rigorous evaluation, if it named anything, might have named the Special Litigation Unit as an exemplary project rather than the PROMIS system as a whole. An implementation analysis of the type presented here was not conducted. Instead, LEAA relied on information provided by project participants in making the designation decision. 14. Marketing activities include: distribution of a nontechnical description of PROMIS, videotape and film presentations, demonstrations at conventions such as those of the National District Attorneys Association, the conduct of quarterly meetings of adopters and potential adopters, publication of a quarterly newsletter, the conduct of on-site feasibility studies, and preparation of benefit-cost analyses for justifying PROMIS to local funding sources. 15. Technical assistance is provided by INSLAW personnel through site visits as well as through telephone and written communications. It includes help in planning projects; writing requests for proposals and selecting contractors; installing, testing, and modifying the basic software; and establishing training programs. 16. David L. Weimer, The Inducement and Implementation of Innovations for Prosecution Management, Dissertation, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, May 1978.

Does Local Community Control of Police make a Difference? Some Preliminary Findings

Using a comparative research design, this study examines the consequences of organizing neighborhood patrol functions on a large scale by a city-wide police force or on a small scale by local communities. The research was conducted in three small independent communities adjacent to Indianapolis, and three matched neighborhoods within the city. The findings indicate a consistent pattern of higher levels of police performance in the independent communities when compared to the Indianapolis neighborhoods. The findings strongly suggest that in the area studied, small police forces under local community control are more effective than a large, city-wide controlled police department in meeting citizen demands for neighborhood police protection. Further studies have been initiated to ascertain if the patterns found in this metropolitan area are also present in other areas.

City Managers Under Fire: How Conflict Leads to Turnover

To evaluate the influence of turnover among city management professionals, data were gathered and analyzed in a study that followed the careers of 133 city managers in Florida since 1986. In contrast to previous studies, conflict was found to be a frequent cause of turnover among those city managers who left their positions during the study period. The type of conflict involved made a difference. Situations involving policy or style disagreements between a manager and the city council were more likely to cause turnover than conflictual conditions emerging from disagreement among council factions. However, other factors, such as electoral changes in council composition and opposition by a popularly elected mayor, were found meaningful. More concern for conflict and conflict-management skills among city management professionals and educators may help solve areas of conflict.

MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND NONPROFITS Moving Beyond "Surveillance" to "Service"

Procedures intended to provide accountability in relationships between governments and nonprofit organizations often focus on ways to catch and punish mistakes rather than on ways to improve service to the public. Usually, this is because the parties create their expectations for the relationship independently. However, many public services can be improved if governments and nonprofits work together to learn what needs to be done to address public needs more effectively. Mutual accountability involves key stakeholders in dialogue to determine responsibilities, authorize discretion, establish reporting procedures, and create review processes for the relationship. Mutual accountability requires extra time and effort but may be appropriate when the parties are unclear about how best to address public problems and when they have altruistic values.

Education for the Public Service: Policy Analysis and Administration in the MPA Core Curriculum

What curriculum components are contained in professional masters programs in public affairs and administration? Using information from Self Study Reports submitted by graduate programs in public affairs and administration in the period 1983-1989 as part of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administrations (NASPAA) accreditation process, core curriculum components are described and assessed. To explore why NASPAA-accredited programs vary in their curricula, relationships between curriculum emphases and other program characteristics are analyzed. Programs are covering NASPAA curriculum components, but not in any uniform manner. Although programs vary in allocations of time to the various curriculum components, two relatively distinct curriculum emphases can be delineated Programs tend to have primarily an institutional/management orientation or an analytical orientation. These curriculum emphases are related to several program characteristics including institutional location, numbers and types of students, credit hour requirements, and program age.

Learning through Action: How MPA Public Service Team Projects Help Students Learn Research and Management Skills

Abstract Experiential learning has become increasingly common in graduate public affairs programs. This article presents a student-led classroom/field model that integrates public service team projects into two first-year core MPA courses and has been effective in challenging full-time adult students to learn and use research and management skills. The authors describe the public service team projects and the role they play in student learning, and they present students’ accounts of how the projects contributed to their learning and clients’ accounts of the value of these projects to public service organizations.

Educating for the New Public Service: Implications of the 'Transformation of Governance'

Abstract In a world where the very nature of public service is undergoing radical change, how are schools of public affairs to respond? The transformation of governance identified by the National Academy of Public Administration provides one important framework. The transformation in public service students provides another. Using the experience of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, this article identifies implications of these two transformations for public affairs education and illustrates ways in which responses to them can be woven into a public affairs curriculum.

Comparing Public Administration and Policy Analysis Approaches to Public Service Education

We systematically explore differences between the policy analysis and public administration/management approaches to public service education. From the literature, we identify four aspects of public service education that may differ between public administration/management and policy analysis: the students who enter each kind of program, the norms students gain through professional socialization in each approach, the career paths followed by graduates of each kind of program, and program graduates career satisfaction. We develop several hypotheses about differences in applicant pools, student socialization, and the careers of graduates of public administration and policy analysis programs. Finally, we discuss the importance of testing these hypotheses: why alternative findings might be expected and implications of tests of these hypotheses for public service education.

Policing: Is There a System?

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses whether policing is a system. If a system is defined as a single, overarching hierarchical decision-making unit, then the police industry in the most United States metropolitan areas is not a system. However, the concept of a system is not limited to that of a simple hierarchy. Any collection of entities defined by a boundary and regular, predictable relationships among them is a system. The set of agencies producing specified services for a metropolitan area are a bounded collection and the police agencies included in such a collection have regular, predictable relationships among themselves in most Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Such a police industry should be considered a system. For too long, proposed changes in the way police are organized in metropolitan areas have been made with a view toward an idealized hierarchical system, and without any careful research on current operational practices. There is room for improvement in the way police services are delivered in many metropolitan areas.