Benefits of being a Good Citizen

In this assignment I am going to assess what the benefits of being a good citizen are and how being a good citizen benefits public services. A good citizen is a big benefit to not just public services but to society as they will work to make it a better place for everyone in it.
A good citizen can help the public services in many ways for example a way to help the police would be to simply stay out of trouble so the police won’t have to waste their time on you when they could be somewhere else.
There are also other ways a good citizen can help the police:
They could open and run a community centre for youths to keep them off of the streets so they’re not causing the police any problems. Doing this is also a big benefit to the community as it gives youths something to do and could also be another way to educate them also.
A good citizen could also volunteer for the police specials. This would be a big benefit for the police because when too many things are going on at the same time and the police are running out of officers the specials can be called to assist them. The specials are also unpaid so the police don’t need to pay them a wage.
Not only do good citizens help the police but they can also help the fire service by becoming a retained fire fighter who someone that already has a full time job outside of the fire service but can then be called out by the fire service when they need it. There are currently 18 000 retained fire fighters in the UK which shows how important they are to the fire service.
A good citizen can also help the ambulance service by joining St John’s Ambulance, which is another volunteer based group that teaches first aid to people. This benefits the ambulance service because if more people know how to perform first aid it will be more likely that if someone does need help for example they’re not breathing, someone that knows first aid will be able to give them CPR.
A good citizen could also help the armed service for example the Territorial Army Reserves which like specials and St John’s Ambulance is voluntary. The reserves are trained so that when needed, they can be called upon. Although the public may not see them all the time it doesn’t mean that they only get called for when the army needs more soldiers when in war, they can also be called for emergency incidents that may require an evacuation of an area.

A good citizen can help the community they live in by doing little things for example keeping the streets clean by going around picking up litter or arranging a day where the whole community will spend the day cleaning their town.
A good citizen will also make sure that everyone in their community feels welcome no matter where they’re from, what religion they follow or what race they are. Am not saying that they have to change their beliefs but they can understand other people’s beliefs as well as their own. They will also stand up for everyone in their community as well for example if someone is being bullied because of the colour of their skin or they talk a certain way then a good citizen would defend them.
A good citizen will also try and keep their community as safer place as possible by reporting any crimes to the police, which will also help them. If needed they will then also do jury duty which will help the community as it will be free service and could also put criminals away.

Importance of Good Citizens

A good citizen is very important to any public service because of the benefits that they can bring but also because they belief in equality and diversity within the public services and their own community.
A good citizen can show that they believe in equality by doing many things for example helping someone across the road that might need it. This is believing in equality because the good citizen is helping someone across the road because they need help not because of their race, sexuality or beliefs.
They might also organise a neighbourhood watch which is open to anyone over the age of 18 in the community. This is again promoting equality in the community because the only restriction is age so anyone over 18 can join whether they be black, white or Asian. This also helps the community by making it a safer place.
A good citizen can also promote equality by teaching it to their children; this will be beneficial to their learning as well, as they will have an open mind about everything and will also not judge someone because they’re different to them.
Teachers will also have to believe in equality and make every student feel welcome otherwise it looks bad on the school, for example there was a school that limited the time Asians could have a break because they were fighting with whites, they were all fighting each other but only Asians got punished.

It is also important for public servants to believe in equality because if they don’t they will either lose their job or won’t be able to do their jobs properly. One of the biggest accusations of the police being racist is that they tend to stop black people more than any other race although it’s mainly in America were people believe this but there have been case in the UK were the police were thought of as racists, for example the death of Mark Duggan at the hands of police because they thought he was armed with a hand gun, this then sparked a protest which turned into rioting across the country.
Also the importance of understanding diversity in public services like the police or ambulance is key because for them to do their job to the best of their ability they will have to understand the needs of the public. An example could be the death of Jenny-Lee who died of leukaemia along with her unborn baby Aroura because it was against her religion to have a blood transfusion. The ambulance service would then respect her beliefs and let her and her unborn child die. That example could also be a counter argument because if she would have gotten the blood transfusion her and the baby could have survived.
Equality and diversity is also very important to the public services because if no one stereotyped or discriminated then there would be less violence and crime and death rates across the UK would drop meaning less work for public services.
Positive action

The Role of Good Citizens

I will be looking at the role a good citizen can play in helping the public service when it comes to dealing with diversity and equality issues.
I think that good citizens are vital to the public service as they can be helpful in many ways and in different situations when it comes to issues involving diversity and equality.