Enhancing traffic police performance in Egypt Essay

Vision My vision is that of a public service (traffic police) with a performance culture, client-focused (Public) and results oriented (more organized economy) and to decide and examine its current performance in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, and according to the current performance situation, we will try to determine the factors that leads to this situation and also the means to recover or maintain such situation. Where are we now? Many pubic servants are unclear about what the overall objectives are and just what is expected of them. Just to concentrate on traffic police performance, lets first explain the meaning of performance. Job performance ( ) is measured as the quantity and quality of tasks accomplished by an individual or group. This definition urges us to know what factors determine individual performance. In answering this question, the following individual performance equation is a good starting point:- Performance = Ability x Support x Effort We have to handle each of the above three elements, to identify the current points of weakness and strength in traffic police performance and determine whether there is a current inefficiency and/or effectiveness or not. First: Ability Ability establishes an individual’s capacity to perform at a high level of accomplishment. By examining this factor on traffic police soldiers and representatives, we may find that many of them lake the appropriate and effective ability to work in police. I believe that many of them are doing their work in a careless way, a way that no one feels responsible toward his work. You can say they are working under pressure and stress of their superior, where, fear and expectation of punishment and insulation is the only dominate on their behavior which in return affect their performance, so they pretend that they are doing their work by checking the car, driving licenses and other traffic regulations but actually there is no concentration and no sense of responsibility control their performance. You can find the way police officers treat their soldiers or subordinates, you will find it a very aggressive way, also you can conclude the reflection of this treatment on their behavior, for sure this treatment has a negative effect on their behavior and attitude toward their work and they will continuously try to do their work in a manner that prevent their officers not to repeat such treatment. Second: Support Every one needs support, even if his work is of high performance, support can be represented in motivation, no stress, encouragement and the most important thing is the person’s feeling that he will be rewarded for this work performance. I would like to give an example for this:- â€Å"Once when I was waiting in traffic sign and before it turned green to pass, at that time I remembered that I have forgotten to lock the seat belt and I found a police representative coming to me to check my driving license and to charge me with a penalty which was EGP 50, I told him that I forgot to lock the seat belt and this was the first time but he pretended that he did not hear to me and started to write a penalty, at that time I hint to him that I will give him EGP 10, actually he caught the money in a certain manner that I am sure that he tried it many times in order not to be seen by his officer or any one else, then I passed by the car without any penalties.† Examples for this kind of behavior are many and actually they are common in traffic police stations as I am Manager of Tax dept. and Car pool section , my subordinates in car pool section who are responsible for making car licenses and its renewal usually come and told me that they pay bribe for the employee who handle the car’s file, the Engineer who make the inspection of the car, the person who is assigned to choose the car number and the metal board, and even the person who hang the metal board on the car. So no one work for his salary that he is being paid at the end of the month. That is what I intend to mean when I said that every one should feel that he is rewarded for his performance so that every one will try to do his best in order to be paid additional income or incentive or bonus to be encouraged to improve his effectiveness in his work. Also there is lack of technology, new technology must be founded in order to assist and support police officers to improve their work performance efficiency. I am sure that you will agree with me when I remembered you with the computer system used in the traffic police station, is it effective? Many times when I go to the traffic police station to renew my car license, I found that the computer system is out of order and I have to stay for an hour or half an hour till its being repaired. Third: Effort Any person should only work in the place he loves, so as to give it the maximum effort he can, this means that traffic police officers, representatives and soldiers as well must believe in the job they do and should recognize that they work in a so critical area that no exception, no cautions can be applied in its regulations. Once the person believes in that, he will exert as much effort as he can in order to perform effectively and efficiently. Through the above, do you determine now where we are? Using an expired license for two years, during which the traffic police checked it 6 times and returned it back without taking any regulatory procedure, for sure there is lake of ability as the police working while they are not working indeed so they are not effective, also there was lake of support as they are not feel satisfaction that they should be provided and supported by their work so that they are performing ineffective. Finally there was lake of effort as they do not believe in the objective of the work they do to exert effort for it so their performance is inefficient. What is expected in the future? I think that the first step in the improvement process is the selection of right people, as any organization’s success is ultimately determined by the quality of its workforce, the right people not only can execute the tasks needed to achieve the organization’s objective, they also are a product of and are motivated by the supporting people who provide clear regulations and instruction and maintain gentle relation and communication with the whole workforce, in addition to compensation and reward according to the work performance. The most important change that I hope to be effected in the future is the launch of new technology in the traffic police system, which I think it will reflect remarkable advancements in the efficiency and increased productivity to provide more traffic law enforcement with the same staff and at less inconvenience to the public. Virtual Partner: A Mobile technology Solution A new technology used by Delray Beach Police Department, Virtual Partner is an efficient, timesaving, easy-to-use application that increases efficiency and productivity in several areas. The software was designed and developed by those who stood to benefit the most from the technology, the police officers themselves. These officers, in their quest, exceeded the boundaries  of ordinary operations by developing a technology that has incredible output in terms of efficiency, adaptability, productivity, and ease, at nominal cost. The Virtual Partner application consists of four program components. The automated response system provides quick responses to queries made by officers to the National Criminal information Center (NCIC) and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). Ever mindful of officer safety, the developers included a voice response function that verbally relays information in response to queries entered by the officers. In terms of officer safety, Delray Beach feels the voice response capability was a major breakthrough. Using voice response, an officer can remain focused on the offender and the offender’s vehicle without looking at a computer screen, thereby increasing the officer’s safety and eliminating distractions. The voice response provides the officer with specific information needed such as tag and driver’s license status as well as color, make and model of the vehicle. The officers also customized the program to their needs so that it would eliminate unnecessary information and only relay pertinent information requested by the officers. The program confirms warrant hits by signaling the officer with an audible alert tone. The program verbally relays back case numbers, dispatch time, and other requests made by the officer, as well as gate codes to any of the secured gated-communities. The system is also equipped with a two dimensional barcode capability that reads the driver’s license information on licenses from other states that have a magnetic strip for so-called swipe capability. The information generated from any of these inquires can be automatically entered onto forms commonly used by police officers. The capability of the program continued to develop after the officers determined the utility and performance they needed from technology. Through their efforts, several components to the system have been engineered that unequivocally changed Delray Beach’s technology from a hindrance to an asset. Also it’s a very important tool needed to enhance the performance effectiveness of traffic police, Traffic Police organization should develop a quality control system for traffic information dissemination to the public. Currently, there is no organized way of monitoring the accuracy of information disseminated to the public. Development of a quality control system will require the following:- 1. Identification of all types of information being disseminated, the source of each type of information, and the means of dissemination. 2. Establishment of procedures for checking the accuracy of each type of information. 3. Establishment of policies regarding the frequency with which information is to be verified. 4. Identification of personnel to monitor information quality. The way by which the information is delivered to the public is very important to think of, and give it the priority, as people needs to aware of what they usually forget as a result of occupation in their life needs.