Justify the need and role and impact for discipline in the public services
Discipline is important in the public services as the services have alot of responsibilities but without discipline these responsibilities will not be handled or dealt with, with appropriate manner. Discipline helps people get on with the task set/job as discipline is mainly about being motivated and determined to do the best possible. If a team leader was briefing there team and the team was not paying any attention to what the leader was saying the team would be lost and not know what to do; this would be disrespecting the leader as the leader has gave their time to explain what is going to happen and what each of the team members of the team are going to do.
In the public services discipline is used to strengthen the services; for example threatening to give punishments out, which creates fear. This is used so all the public sectors know how to behave in the right manner. Rules and regulations are set so that the people in the services don’t step out of line and do their job with profession. The police force has a discipline code called the code of professional standards. If someone was to go against the rules from the public service acts then that person will be punished; this can include being sacked which means being asked to not return back to the job. An example of poor discipline in the public services is when a policeman hit a man called Ian Tomlinson in the G20 protest. In a result of this the police reputation was affected by this. The police officer went against the rules and regulations acting in an appropriate manner. A punishment for this police officer got imprisonment for killing this man. The police officer showed poor discipline by reacting to protesters in the wrong way, which cost him his job and another’s life. If anyone in the public sector do anything wrong, the services have to pay for one persons mistake. The public services always seem to be in the public eye so if anything bad is said about them people will gain to dislike them and not depend on them to do a good job. The public pay for the public services through taxes so if they fail to do a good job; the public may argue against paying them.
The armed forces act of 2006 is a rank authority that creates new disciplinary laws used for the public services so that the public services keep maintaining new order and train to be more professional within their job. Also this gains more power over the public for the public services.
Whilst working in the public services there is always a negative and positive outcome, this encourages the services to do the best job possible. For example in the police force if you tackle a situation really well using your creativity you may retrieve a reward such as a promotion, or maybe just praise from the sergeants. But if you tackle a situation in the wrong way then you will gain a punishment. In Cresskill borough a police officer was punished after being photographed smoking a fake marijuana cigarette at a concert. This officer did this for a joke to have a laugh with some of his mates, but the officer was punished for not showing good judgement. This policeman kept his job as it was a fake cigarette; but if this was a real cigarette he would have lost his job. Not only negative actions are noticed but positive actions are noticed as well such as heroism. The Milwaukee police department recognized peers and residents for acts of heroism. These brave officers were each awarded one or more certificates or medals depending on how brave they have been throughout the year. Some examples of rewards that the officers were awarded for are: valorous conduct, meritorious conduct award, purple valor award, distinguished service award and a life saving award.
In situations like the London riots where rioters are throwing things at the public forces who are trying to calm the situation down the forces have to stay calm at all times and act