This master's project investigated the application of the strategic planning process in public safety agencies at the local level of government in the United States.
The research performed for the master's project was exploratory in nature. Samples of fire safety administrators, administrators of other public safety agencies, and senior public administrators at the local government-level were selected from among the populations of such persons in Colorado jurisdictions.
The variations between respondent groups and organizational types in relation to (a) the perceived importance of strategic planning for public safety agencies, (b) the level of expertise required for effective strategic planning in such agencies, and (c) the implementation of the strategic planning process in public safety agencies were not a great as had been anticipated prior to conducting the research for the master's project. Statistically significant variations were found, however, with respect to the relationship between (a) relative agency budget size (as an explanatory variable) and four of the 21 elements/activities of the strategic planning process for public safety agencies. The four elements/ activities of the strategic planning process for public safety agencies were (a) threat identification, (b) the formulation of contingency strategies, (c) the establishment of measurement and monitoring procedures, and (d) the development of evaluation procedures. In each instance, the finding was that agencies with relatively larger budgets (a) perceived the elements/activities to be of greater importance than was the case for agencies with relatively smaller budgets, (b) perceived the level of expertise required in relation to each of the elements/ activities for effective strategic planning to be higher than was the case for agencies with relatively smaller budgets, and (c) were more likely to have included each of the elements/activities in the agency st...