Changing Face of Security Agencies Research Paper

Changing environment and Communities

It is the intention of the various agencies of the government to help their employees to be able to in an environment that is suitable for the optimum performance in order to offer the best service to the public. In an effort tom achieve this, the different organizations and agencies have prepared their employees in various ways that help them approach the contemporary society with the diverse population therein. This paper will hence look at the various ways that the agencies prepare their employees to adapt to the fast changing environment in terms of technology and the workforce as well.

Since the onset of globalization, one defining feature has been the rapid shift in technology and information technology. The workforce has had to contend with the challenge of this fast changing technological advances, unfortunately there is no sign of the reliance on technology relenting hence it has been and will continue to be the duty of the employer to equip the employees with the requisite skills to cope with the changes in technology and exploit such changes to perform their duties better. The fire department for instance has seen tremendous changes over the past 25 years in the apparatus and tools that offer fire protection and effectiveness in rescue services. With the contemporary changes, there are more formal and structured trainings to handle the new technology as compared to the predecessors who mainly needed physical strength and mechanical knowledge to qualify for fire fighter slot. The shift in time and environment due to globalization has also meant new technologies in fire prevention, incident command systems developed, enhanced approaches to firefighters health and safety, response to domestic terrorism and infection control practices that have meant totally new trainings of the employees to be able to carry out these new duties effectively (Chesterfield MA Fire Department, 2015). The use of computers, wireless telephone, cellular phones, FAX machines and even the GPS system are common equipment in fire departments of late hence straining staff to effectively use such in expediting their operations is prevalent of late. It is significant to note that the duty of the firefighters have over the years expanded beyond fire related incidences to involve medical emergencies, ice and swift waters rescues, hazardous material responses as well as vehicle accidents. This has meant restructuring of the training in major ways that would make the employees able to handle the diverse incidences.

The issue of workplace diversity has also been in the forefront since the workplace demographics have consistently changed over the years, making the various government agencies have a variety of employees, a fact that presents challenges in terms of harmonious coexistence. Employees are constantly encouraged to concentrate the positives of diversity and instead of treating diversity as a negative thing, the employees have been trained to align the diversity to the mission of the agency or the department. This has helped the various public safety agencies to work in synchrony in achieving their goals of making the U.S. A secure place (U.S. Department of Commerce, n.d).

With the budgetary allocations getting ever tighter on several public security agencies, have had to upgrade their systems in such a manner that their employees will be able to still perform optimally through sourcing for information from a common pool of information and data. Hitherto, it was expensive for different agencies to exchange information and…