The budget should be strictly controlled because if it wasn’t this could result in over expenditure of unnecessary things. This would be a waste of government and public money.
I will arrive at a budget using the following scenario:
I will be manning a police station for a five year period and will have to take into account the capital and annual costs.
Personnel
1 inspector
1 admin
2 sergeants
12 constables
Constables £21000
Sergeant £30000
Admin £15000
Inspector £38000
12 constables at £21,000 = £252,000 x3 shifts
£252,000 x3 = £756,000
2 sergeants at £30,000 = £60,000 x3 shifts
£60,000 x3 = £180,000
1 Admin = £15,000
1 Inspector = £38,000
Total expenditure on wages = £989,000 pa (x5 for 5 year period)
Cars
I will be needing three cars at my police station. Two of which I will purchase and the third will be a sponsor car.
Purchase of two cars = £20,000 x 2 = £40,000
Running of cars = £5,000
Total expenditure on cars = £40,000
Running of cars = £5,000 pa (x5 for 5 year period)
Equipment and Administration costs
Equipment will include things such as computers, items to furnish the station (e.g. desks, chairs etc) and clothes etc.
Admin will include such things as phone bills and stationary costs.
Total costs of equipment = £40,000
Some items will need annual replacement = £5,000 pa (x4)
Other
Building running costs (electricity, fuel, insurance) = £250,000pa (x5 year period)
Buildings, garages cars and masts (real estate) estimated at a total of £2,810,000.00 initial purchase.
Total costs of building and running a police station over a five year period is estimated at:
Personnel = 989,000 x5 = £4,945,000
Cars = £40,000 + 5,000 x5 = £65,000
Equip and admin = £40,000 + 5,000 x5 = £65,000
Building running costs = £250,000 x5 = £1,250,000
Buildings, garages cars and masts (real estate) estimated at a total of £2,810,000.00 initial purchase.
Total for 5 year period = £9,135,000
Auditing
Auditing is the process an operating system uses to detect and record security-related events, such as an attempt to create, access, or delete objects such as files and directories. The records of such events are stored in a file known as a security log, whose contents are available only to those with the proper clearance. It involves records the sequence of activities that occur on any given file or body of content within a content management system. This sequence of events - an audit trail - can be used by content contributors, managers, and auditors alike to determine how and why content was changed In simple terms it means to go through the process of examining and verifying a company's financial records and supporting documents. Both internal and external bodies are involved in the auditing process, they carry out the process annually to examine the forces budget and make sure that the money is being spend in the right places. They make sure that fraud does not occur.
Internal audit is provided by the County Council Internal Audit Unit and the Monitoring and Audit Committee are involved in budget auditing.
Task 2
I will be describing what a Management Information System (MIS) is and show how the Police Force could use this management tool. I will also explain how a public service practitioner can benefit from and make sensible use of MIS.
A MIS is a computerised system which manages operations, equipment and personal. It helps managers plan and direct business and organizational operations.
It provides managers with the tools for organizing, evaluating and efficiently running their departments. In order to provide past, present and prediction information, an MIS can include that helps in decision making, data resources such as , the resources of a system, , people management and project management , and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently. It is a organized assembly of resources and procedures required to collect, process, and distribute for use in decision making.
A current MIS system that the Metropolitan Police use is MetMIS. I have included information on this MIS and this can be read in Appendix 2.
Task 3
For the final task I will be evaluate the practical application of MIS in improving efficiency, or otherwise in the operational management in the Police Force.
MIS can be very useful in the police force as it can improve communication, which leads to a much better service being provided. For example, by using radios this can improve the speed in which the police arrive on a crime scene. More people can be informed of the crime and the backup can be called upon quickly and easily. As a result of this less policeman are required to walk the streets as the response time to a call is quicker due to the use of police radios. However there have been recent complaints by the public that there is a lack of policemen on the streets compared to the past and as crime rates have increased in recent years the two have been linked. It is yet to be proved that the increasing crime rates is due to less policemen on the beat but the police strongly deny this.
For the MIS to be effective it needs to be accessible – for example, if there is a personnel database then people need to have access to the system as they may want to see their records that are stored on there. The information is for their use therefore they need to be able to access it.
The MIS also needs to be compatible with another MIS. For example, if someone uses a radio it needs to be compatible with another for it to be efficient.
An example of this is if a policeman wanted to radio another policeman on duty in the area for backup or assistance the radios would have to be compatible with each other for them to be able to communicate and backup to be requested.
The MIS also has to be understandable. By this I mean that everyone who is required to use the system is able of doing so and it is not so complicated that it cannot be understood.
MIS also has to be relevant. It would be a waste of time effort and money installing a system which would fail to benefit.
The Police have just released their new radio system, which they call “Airwave” and this system is far more beneficial and practical than their previous radios. The Airwave system cannot be hacked into by criminals wishing to hear police conversations over the radio and can also be used as a mobile phone or can be used to text on. Policemen can communicate over a much further distance
However I would say that MIS does have its disadvantages. The first being that it can be very costly. If a whole line of computer systems had to be installed then this could be very costly as computer systems do not come cheaply. MIS can also be very time consuming training all the people required to use the MIS to be able to use it. Again, this can also be costly having to carry out all the extra training.
Here are some examples of some MIS in the police force, I am going to evaluate them and explain why I feel that they are useful:
Planning and Budgeting Database
This database is used to provide trial balance sheet, check use of budget, control use of budget, used for setting up budget for the following year and to manage an efficient use of the budget. This is a very useful MIS system because it aids in managing a budget and helps to forecast for the upcoming year.
Personnel Database
This database provides information and records of police officers. It provides services to inquiries on personnel records such as disciplinary actions and education. This is useful MIS because it keeps track on all people employed and provides records upon them.
Salary Database
This database contains salary records of every police officer and is linked to the Personnel Database. This is also a good MIS because it helps aid when paying salaries and gives information on wages costs. It can help in auditing.
Overall I feel that MIS systems are very useful and can aid in many aspects of running an organisation. Although MIS have their disadvantages, which I have talked about above (such as costs and extra training) I believe that the advantages outweigh these disadvantages.
