Nature of Authority in the Uniformed Public Services
Beth Freeman

Authority is defined as the ‘power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience’. There are many different organisations that enforce discipline within the public services, which have the right to extend different levels of authority and enforce different levels of obedience within a service. These are;

Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC); this was created in 2004 to replace the Police Complaint Authority. It is completely independent, and is free of government influence. It is primary purpose is to increase the confidence that the public have within the police complaint system throughout England and Wales. They investigate serious
This allows the job to be completed quickly and efficiently. An example of this is when a fire starts the officers quickly hear the instructions given by the officer higher up the hierarchy structure and without questioning completes the order that was given. Although this can be an issue because there are not allowing themselves to think for themselves what they are doing and this can easily allow the leaders to use the power of corruption. It is important that they don’t use the nature of authority through disobedience because this can result in them being dismissals, demoted, fined and also could lead to them putting the public, team members and themselves in danger. Within the Fire Service they use the Authoritarian authority; this is the type of authority that is very strict. They delegate all the orders and do not take any advice from those below them. This is very effective when time is very limited, although a great deal of trust is needed because you are placing your life in their hands. This types of authority does not encourage team decisions or initiative, and when orders are not completed to their satisfaction, punishment is delegated.

The Armed Forces Discipline Act 2000 uses the nature of authority through power as a way of enforcing discipline to the solider and making sure that they conform in a particular way. The purpose of this act is to hold the soldiers to account and to make sure that they are following the rules and