What is Public Safety - Community Watch Paper

Public Safety holds a reference to the aspects like the protection and the welfare of people at large. In majority countries across the globe, these days, you will find a dedicated department to handle the scope of action related to this topic.

The primary goal for these departments is to prevent and protect the mass from the probable threats and challenges, arising out of disasters and crimes. Thus, it will be right to state that, Public safety is one of the key parameters that determine the actual quality of life of the residents of a particular area and ensures their well being and solace.

Mankind is a social being, and to a large extent, the quality of life depends on the social conditions. In an area, which is crime prone,or just after a significant calamity or disaster breaking up, needless to state, the standard of life will not be to the desired standard.

It becomes a trouble to think of an area, wherein its residents are not getting a safe and secure condition to lead the daily life. People would least prefer to reside in such areas, and as such, even the condition and standard life in those areas are much below the desired standard.

Public Safety is very crucial, as it is one of the major factors beyond the development and modernization of the area concerned. In a region or a country, where the rate of crime is towards the higher side, or the area is prone to catch social and/or natural disasters, the area is least preferred as a site of commercial, business, academic or tourist activities.

So, Public Safety aims towards making an area more livable, by preventing the people from such fierce outcomes, and protecting the residents from any sorts of disasters. One thing that the most highly livable cities around the world share in common is that, they ensure adequate and robust protection of the mass.

From a border perspective public safety has references to the aspects of equality, fraternity and liberty as well. In the ideal condition, public safety will prevent the exploitation, inequality as well as social deprivation.

In a safe and secure society, there should be no instances like mass lynching, exploitation of an individual or a group by another person or a group, as well as all the residents of the area should get fair and equal chances to lead their life.

Considering the points stated above, Public safety is a widespread concept that revolves around the daily walk of life As the key stakeholder to ensure adequate safety for the mass, Government agencies in modern times, keeps working to ensure that the people are safe, and they are getting the ideal condition to lead their life.

On the whole, Public Safety departments from around the globe, keeps working untiringly and honestly to keep the society free of crimes of and sort, and ensures that there is the adequate framework to protect the mass from any act of god or manipulated disasters.

Basic Examples of Public Safety

To gain a better insight on this concept, you need to understand the basic framework of Public Safety and how the local, state or the Federal government execute this function. On the whole, this framework would include the amenities like the Emergency Medical and Fire services as well as the law enforcement.

The most common threats to public safety in contemporary times include the instances, but not limited to the scopes like narcotic use, substance abuse, financial and non-financial crime, social exploitation and harassment’s, public lynchings, as well as Juvenile Delinquency, to name a few.

The most threatening point is that, the types of crime and disasters are manifold, and the basic concept of public safety is to ensure the protection of the resident of a municipal area, city, state, province, and/or a country from these threats.

If Public safety is considered as an industry, its basic objective is to offer services that ensure foolproof protection of people and their belongings, as well as the private and public properties. The basic participants of this industry are that of the Government departments and the commercial safety service providers.

Again the Government departments for public safety can be further differentiated into the local, regional as well as federal government agencies. All these departments, agencies and companies are basically working hand in hand to ensure that people at large are getting the perfect living condition, and the extent of crimes has been always within the control.

The Military and Paramilitary forces, Police force, Cyber crime prevention departments, Disaster Management departments and agencies, as well as emergency management are the most significant examples of Public safety In addition, a special mention should be given about the judicial services that aims to restore the rule of law across the society.

What is the importance of Public Safety?

In modern times, the local, regional as well as the federal governments from all around the globe has identified Public Safety as one of the major areas of concern and importance. They are forming new departments and agencies to ensure that the residents of the place as well as the society is safe and leading a pleasant and enjoyable life. This implies, Public safety is one such topic that holds manifold and immense importance in today’s time.

Let’s start the discussion in this regard from the point, how the social safety plays a major role in shaping the economic, trading as well as financial prosperity of an area and a society. The society is one of the major stakeholder in any business process, the stability and the safety in a society is one of the major points to determine its standing in the domain of business and financial activities.

Investors would be reluctant to invest in a region, wherein the rate of crime is always towards the higher side. Likewise, they would not prefer to invest their resources in a region that are prone to disastrous outcomes.

As such, it becomes very important for the local, regional as well as the federal government to ensure adequate protection of the region and its residents as well as to combat the chances of disasters to the extent possible, and ensure a speedy recovery after the disasters to make investors interested to invest in the region concerned.

So, unless the public safety is up to the expected standards, it is impossible to assume that the region can flourish in business and commercial endeavors. This comes as a major challenge to the chances of betterment of the standard of life in the region and the society concerned.

Now, coming to the financial activities, when the rate of crime in a region surpasses a certain extent, it automatically brings a significant turmoil to the social life. Instability in the society, or the rising rate of crime, especially the financial ones is often the major factors beyond the retardation of the value of a country’s currency. On the other hand, the scopes of export and import activities are shattered beyond the chances of recovery.

Such conditions adversely affect the international trading and international relations, forcing the country to accept a retardation to the rate and scope of its development and modernization. This is likely to negatively affect the rate of flow of international currencies, and may even exhaust its reserve in this regard, as no fresh blood is added to the pool.

When the society in a country or in a region starts suffering from serious and intense safety issues, its residents may start migrating out from the region or the country concerned. This has been the case with various countries from different parts of the globe. This delivers a message that the departments and the agencies in the charge of social safety cannot afford any compromises in this regard.

What are the largest issues with Public Safety?

What makes the task of the public safety departments and agencies such challenging? What are most stringent issues and threats that can challenge the aspect of safety of the public? Let’s explore the key points in this regard.

Disaster planning as well as recovery: one of the key components of public safety is that of prevention of the disasters, as well as the recovery from the unavoidable disastrous conditions. Some areas in the world are prone to catch natural disasters that are act of Gd activities. Though, some of these conditions can never be prevented, however, it is certainly a scorching issue, if the administration of the area concerned does not have the adequate framework to restore back the usual course of life, after the outburst of such instances.
A locality, region, or a country loosing the rule of law: another adverse instant that can challenge the public safety is that of the rising rate of activities that threatens and ruins the rule of law.

Needless to state, in such a society, the standard of life will be shattered and no scopes of well being will be open for the residents of the area, region, or the country concerned. This will only end up in retarding and demolishing the scopes of development and the advancement of such a region, completely shattering the scopes of financial and business activities in such an area.
Some issues with public safety come accompanied by improvements with technology: the concept of public safety stands the most vulnerable in such instances, wherein the turmoil is an unavoidable part of the advancements and modernization of technology. Though, no compromises can be ever made to the advancement of technology, however, it is not acceptable that such advancements should be accompanied by threats to public safety.

Unethical utilization of technology with or without evil purposes and thoughts are the best example to illustrate such issues. For example, the rising rate of cyber crime is one of the major threats to public safety these days. It has come as an unwanted by-product of technological advancements and it is running the solace and well being of the mass from all around the globe. The Cyber crime control departments are really facing it challenging to sort and control such instances.
Social and/or economical exploitation: as the fundamental of public safety holds a reference to the idea of social well being, it is obvious that there will come some issues from this perspective as well. The government from all around the globe is really finding it tough to control the instances of economical disparity which is the key factor beyond financial exploitation. It is impossible to think about a safe society, where an individual or a group of people is financially or socially exploited by another person or a group for reasons whatsoever.
Ever changing nature of the crime: the most dynamic challenge to the concept of public safety is that of the changing nature of the crime. It is a fact that, as the orientations and approaches in life is changing, so are the types, nature as well as scopes of crimes. For instance, even a few decades back, no one could have even thought about online crime, which is one of the scorching issues these days.

Though, the public safety departments and agencies are trying their best to eliminate this, they are facing stringent challenge, even in controlling the rate of cyber crime that keeps growing constantly with the passage of time. Likewise, with the passage of time, new types of crimes are coming to the forefront and preventing such instances sometime seems to be an impossible task.
Lack of authentic and relevant data: prevention to a large extent depends on precise analysis. Another stringent threat to the aspect of public safety is that of the lack of authentic and reliable data and information. So, the public safety departments from round the world, in various instances, don’t have any clue about the probable challenges that are likely to spring up. As such, it becomes almost impossible to take the right course of action to prevent such instances.

What is Public Safety Testing?

Public Safety Testing is a qualifying and screening examination, conducted with the objective to screen and select candidates for entry level position in public safety jobs. For example, the positions like Police Officer, Dispatchers, Fire fighting officers, Correction officers are some of the positions that are recruited through the Public Safety Testing.

This test includes a written as well as a test for physical abilities, and an applicant need to pass the initial written test to qualify for the physical ability evaluation steps. Usually, an application is expected to cut a minimum score of 70% to pass the written test.

This is to be a given a special mention that, this is not only a qualifying test, but, also a test where the ranking matters. The combined result of the written and the physical ability testing are considered to determine the ranking of the candidate. First priority is given to the successful candidates on the basis of the ranking they achieve.

An aspirant to this test should take specialized guidance to prepare of the testing. Systematic practice in this regard would enable one to attain success easily and gain an entry into the promising domain of public safety which is growing day after day. For sure, career as a public safety professional is rewarding and fetches respect and prestige. In the opinion of the experts, this domain is likely to expand in the years to come, producing more and more employment opportunities for the competent professionals from all around the globe.

Public safety definition Government

Public safety is the measures to protect the mass and to ensure their welfare and well being. The Government is the key stakeholder in the process. The Government agencies and departments participating in the public safety process can either be a local government body, or the state or the Federal Government. These entities individually and collectively work to ensure that the public is safe and their welfare is assured.

The role and responsibility of the Government is to develop the right framework as well as design the strategies for public safety. Subsequently, the Government bodies individually, or in association of the commercial public safety service providers execute the plans to ensure the foolproof safety of the public. In addition, the Government frames and executes laws and enactments in this regard. On the other hand, the Government agencies work on taking preventive measure on disasters, as well as works on relief plans after the disasters to restore back the normal swing of life in the affected area.

Today, Governments in all the countries from all around the world is giving exceeding importance on this topic, and they are even holding separate departments and significant budget to work on public safety activities. This includes the scopes of preventive as well as corrective activities, with the basic objective to ensure the well being and welfare of the public and to enhance the quality of life in a locality or a region or in a country.

Some of the most common Public safety jobs

Over the last few years, Public safety has developed and shaped up as a comprehensive industry, emerging as one of the major employment domains for the mass. Here, come of the jobs are with the Government departments and agencies, while others are with the commercial providers of public safety services.

Again the Government jobs can be categorized into local government, regional government or the Federal government jobs. On the whole, the domain is growing like anything, and in the opinion of the experts, in the forthcoming years, it will develop further to create more and more job opportunities, directly and indirectly. Following the common example of jobs with public safety:

Police Officers
Fire Fighters
Medical and Health Services
Emergency Management
Disaster Management
Law Enforcement
Private Security services
Disaster and emergency planning
Crime control
Intelligence and Fraud detection
Investigations

The majority of these opening is recruited through the Public Safety Testing, while there can be other evaluation and screening measures for the selection of personnel into these jobs. These professional are handsomely paid, and they get lucrative career development opportunities to secure themselves professionally. The opening can be at local, region, national as well as international arenas.

With more and more importance being given to the concept of Public Safety, it is anticipated that in the forthcoming years, the domain of public safety would widen further, creating more and more jobs for the deserving candidates. More opportunities for employment as well as self-employment are likely to come up with the domain in the coming years.

Likewise, it is anticipated that professional in this domain can expect higher compensation packages, and they are certainly going to play crucial roles in ensuring the solace and welfare of the mass, ensuring adequate job satisfaction as well.

Likewise, it is anticipated, new job titles with niche job roles and key responsibility areas will be designed in the forthcoming years. Thus, aspirants looking for a profession in this domain can certainly expect for better job impetus and career prospects, securing their professional career with Public Safety jobs.

Public Safety and security- are they exactly the same?

Usually, the term public safety and public security, in the majority instances are used in an interchangeable sense. But are the exactly similar? Are there any differences between the real meaning and scopes of these concepts? To develop a precise understanding, it is very important to find answers to these questions.

Speaking about safety, it involves an emotional as well as physical aspects. In the ideal condition, both these aspects should come in tandem to ensure complete safety for the individual concerned. For instance, you can relevantly consider the instance of a mother to a newborn, with her ward in between her arms, trying to ensure the emotional as well physical safety of the child.

In this context, the Government is playing the role of the mother, shouldering the responsibility to keep the public, the newborn in this case, emotionally and physically safe. Thus, it will be right to describe safety as a measure to ensure the emotional and Physical protection and welfare of the mass.

Now, after some basic idea about public safety has been discussed, for better understanding, it is important to throw light on the concept of public security as well. Explained in simple terms, Public Security refers to all those activities and endeavors that aims to ensure the safety of the public. It involves the security against the probable crimes as well as disasters as well as the correctional as well as the recovery activities to ensure the complete welfare of the mass.

Again, public safety is basically the combined work process that aims to enhance the extent of awareness as well as taking the preventive measures to ensure the safety of the mass. This way, one can state that, safety is basically the strategy and planning aspect of comprehensive Public security, whereas, Public security is the actual steps executed to keep the public safe and secure from all the relevant perspectives.

Thus, it will be right to state that Safety and security of the public are the integral part of the activities and measures to ensure their well being and welfare on the whole.

Public Safety issues

Issues with public safety are the probable threats that are likely to challenge the emotional as well as physical security of the mass. It involves the threats to the individuals, communities, as well as institutes. Now, let’s look back on some of the issues to public safety:

Law enforcement issues: the major issues that the law enforcement departments from all around the world faced in 2018 were issues related to a drastic rise in the rate of responses from Active shooters, lack of transparency in police as well as public record, and, issues with the recruitments of the professionals. In addition, law enforcement departments faced significant challenges related to the laws for sanctuary and immigration.
Cyber security: instances of cyber hacks, leaks and cyber attacks are the major concerns for public safety over the last few years.
Social engineering: with the social media platforms spreading rumors and fake information hurting the emotions of communities in various manners, social engineering is facing significant challenges to keep up the right shape and condition.
Natural Disasters: over the last few years, with the violation of the equilibrium in the ecological balance, the rates and types of natural disasters has been rising continuously. It is becoming tough for the public safety departments to prevent such instances and ensure speedy recovery.

Public Safety in recent year has been one of the major concerns for the Government departments and agencies from all around the globe. Hence, they are giving more and more importance to the concept, innovating new measures to ensure the welfare as well as the well being of the mass from the probable risks and threats. CWP

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