E-government involves utilization of different communication technologies, information, and the intent for improving efficiency in service delivery. E-government does not restrict the organizations to use only the internet enabled applications, but it allows interaction between other groups and the government within the network (Bonsón et al. 126). As such, E-government is involved in three domains including building external interactions, improving government processes, and connecting the citizens. All of them are relevant in improving the level of efficiency represented by the government sectors in providing services to the citizens. One of the core initiatives of e-government is on the enhancement of internal cooperation with the public sector. As such, e-government is important in managing process performance, cutting on costs, creating empowerment, and establishing strategic connections in the public sector (Bonsón et al. 126). It also assists in strengthening external connections in the society such as building a partnership, developing communities, and better collaboration with the society through effective contacting and listening to the population (Bonsón et al. 128). Finally, e-government is necessary for crossing the communication gap between citizens and the government and for improving the administrative functions of the authirity. This paper will analyze the different aspects of e-government as applied in Los Angeles Police Department to determine how it contributes to the promotion of and adherence to privacy, accessibility, and transparency.
Los Angeles Police Department is considered one of the largest and highly influential law enforcement agencies in the country (The Los Angeles Police Department n.p). It is a governmental department comprised of both women and men from various backgrounds, who are purposed to serve the citizens through law enforcement (The Los Angeles Police Department n.p). This division does not only perform duties of a law enforcement unit in Los Angeles City, but also serves as a platform for giving employees a platform for developing their career. Therefore, it is essential for the LAPD to uphold the different concepts discussed herein not only for serving the citizens, but also for meeting the interest of the a great number of employees in different sectors of the organization.
The three concepts analyzed in this exposition include privacy, accessibility, and transparency. Privacy is considered as an ability of a company to protect itself and information about its employees and customers. (Tolbert and Mossberger 356). The privacy policy ensures that the clients’ information is perfectly protected; hence, safeguarding the client from a possible negative impact of leakage of the information to the public is crucial at this point. As such, the Los Angeles Police Department is a governmental unit that is expected to protect the citizens’ data; hence, privacy is one of the first priorities of the organization (The Los Angeles Police Department n.p). For this department to serve the citizen effectively, it should be easily accessible by any group of people. Similarly, transparency in the operations of a security department is vital in ensuring that the citizens gain trust. These concepts are portrayed on the website of the Los Angeles Police Department where the citizens can easily access the necessary information of regarding any sphere of LAPD’s activity. As such, these concepts are vital in ensuring the effectiveness of the department in its operations and developing trusting relationships with the population.
Privacy is highly upheld in this department as portrayed by the way the information is gathered or used. As such, the Los Angeles Police Department generates different log files of the IP addresses of the computers and regulate the files that these computers access (The Los Angeles Police Department n.p). To ensure that privacy is upheld within the unit, visitors may be asked to give relevant information about themselves, which helps keep out people driven with an intent of retrieving information that is confidential.. The privacy of the clients is maintained through ensuring that the public information is not accessible to a third party (Tolbert and Mossberger 357). As such, this government department does not provide any identifiable information of the citizens to any visitor or third party. It ensures that the data provided by the people is safeguarded, and confidentiality is maintained. There are different security measures in place aimed at protecting the loss, alteration or misuse of the information. This regulates all the activities involved in the control of the information. With such security measures, the department’s personnel is aware of the consequences they may face upon altering the intelligence; hence, maintain high standards in dealing with the privacy of the organization. The website upholds a high level of privacy, in that, no client information is displayed in any of the website pages. In addition, the police servants’ privacy is also protected. The only personal information given about the employees of the PD includes the pictures of the fallen heroes and the day they passed fighting for the rights of the citizens. Therefore, it is evident that LAPD maintains the highest level of privacy in leading e-government.
The privacy concept was measured based on a research by Tolbert and Mossberger, which evaluates e-government in a proposed way of increasing the trust between the authority and the citizens (358). In addition, Tolbert and Mossberger assert that trust has been declining in the government sectors for more than three decades (358). One of the proposed ways of evaluating e-government as a way of improving the performance is through using the two-stage model in analyzing Pew survey data. The research explores government’s credibility and relationship between e-government use and the attitudes to it. As such, the study gives findings based on the analysis of the relationship between the website of the local government and the citizens, as well as the trust that results from the relationship. Therefore, the same strategy was used in measuring the privacy of LAPD since it is the most appropriate way of deriving such information from the website. The results depict that privacy is highly upheld but can be increased upon the building more interaction processes with the citizens.
It is the general requirement for any website to be easily accessible to visitors(Connecticut General Assembly 8). Accessibility is ensured through establishing possible contact with a user at any time. This gives an organization and its audience a platform through which they can effectively communicate. Furthermore, accessibility can be ensured through giving the contact lines displaying the most efficient ways in which the client can keep in touch. This is portrayed on the LAPD website where both emergency and non-emergency contacts are posted. In addition to this, the social media contacts including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are posted. Therefore, several channels through which the customers can access the necessary authorities are posted, thereby, depicting the high level of accessibility. Based on the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee, the privacy policy should not be linked to accessibility (Connecticut General Assembly 8). As such, the visitors should be in a position of approaching all the relevant information needed. In turn, the accessibility of LAPD was measured by evaluating its website information and the data displayed on its social media sites. Thus, clients can easily get to know more about the institution through perusing these pages or dialing the contact numbers on the website.
Transparency is ensuring that people can clearly see and analyze the activities running within the organization. Hence, it refers to openness where no activity is conducted without informing of the society (Bonsón et al. 132). It is portrayed on the LAPD website where most of its operations, such as hiring, are displayed in the pages. All the alerts are sent through the website; thus, the progress of the organization can be easily determined through evaluation of the website. Holzer et al. state that some of the organizations consider making the contractors bid openly online as a way of increasing transparency (23). In this research, transparency was measured through evaluating how open the company is as displayed on the website. It was the best way to assess transparency as if the website express particular values, it means that the company demonstrates the same.
Based on the findings, the LAPD portrays the highest levels of the mentioned concepts; hence, it is evident that the department effectively serves its target audience. Based on e-government, it forms an ideal organization that can safeguard the citizens. However, there is a need of opening new ways in which the LAPD can easily interact with the citizens in creating good rapport enhancing trust between the parties involved.
Works Cited
Bonsón, Enrique, et al. “Local E-Government 2.0: Social Media and Corporate Transparency in Municipalities.” Government Information Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 2, 2012, pp. 123-132.
Connecticut General Assembly. “Assessment of Connecticut’s Implementation of E-Government.” Connecticut General Assembly, Dec. 2010, www.cga.ct.gov/pri/docs/2010/Assessment_of_Connecticut’s_Implementation_of_E-Government_Final_Report.PDF. Accessed 5 Apr. 2017.
Holzer, Marc, et al. U. S. Municipalities E-Governance Survey (2010-11): An Assessment and Ranking of Municipal Websites. Rutgers University, 2012.
Los Angeles Police Department. “Los Angeles Police Department.” www.lapdonline.org/. Accessed 5 Apr. 2017.
Tolbert, Caroline and Karen, Mossberger. “The Effects of E-Government on Trust and Confidence in Government,” Public Administration Review, vol. 66, no. 3, 2006, pp. 354-369.
