Regionalism Blended E-learning Course Blog Question
Blended E-learning Course QuestionToday a legislative official suggested communities register sex offenders on a regional instead of a individual community bases. If such a system was put into place which regionalism category of the four presented by Powell would such a region be? In your answer please explain the reasons for your choice.
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:22 pm
If we were to create regions in an effort to track sex offenders, it seems to me that we would use the administrative regionalism category. This category focuses on governmental action that would require intergovernmental cooperation. Many of our local governments already engage in this type of cooperation in providing public safety services such as ambulance, fire and law enforcement services.
There is a logic to this type of arrangement for service provision, no duplication of services, economy of scale, reduced personnel costs, streamlined accounting and reporting. Whether this is an effective way of dealing with the sexual predator issue is another matter for an entirely different discussion!
August 24th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
What type of regional structure could best track sex offenders? I agree with Nancy’s vote for the administrative structure but would also suggest the possibility of the coordinating.
Such a system could gather information acquired locally and make it available to a broader population/region.
Regions seem to develop as a result of working to achieve a competitive or cooperative advantage. Most economic regions seem to be driven by the desire to gain a competitive advantage over another area or region. Non-economic regions find benefits in cooperating to benefit their members with no intent to ‘beat out’ another. A region to track sex offenders is of the cooperative nature.
When we consider the type of region, we should also consider the optimal size of the region for maximum effectiveness of the effort. Consider the Ohio eSORN system. The ‘region’ is state-wide. To check for a possible sex offender record, one submits an address and a name and the system gives a result. The system is ‘ok’ but to be truly effective it needs to weave a tighter web. No SS# - issued nationally - weakens the search. In this case, and considering our highly mobile society, the region for tracking sex offenders should be national.
With this in mind I ask, does the size of the region determine the best type of regional structure?
Jackie
August 30th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Both categories (Coordinating and Administrative) as suggested by Nancy and Jackie make sense. Tracking sexual offenders does seem to fit more in the administrative category as a way local governments might work together more efficiently to serve and protect citizens.