Surveillance Cameras at “one-door” offices of wards
Positive changes
According to the regulations of Thua Thien Hue People's Committee, working hours at local wards are from 7 a.m. to 11:30a.m., and from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. However, some officials are late for work, especially in the morning. Not until after 7:30 a.m. do they start to come to work, and some do not show up until 8 a.m., making people annoyed and irritated after a long waiting time. Since the camera installment at "one-door" offices, most employees have been more punctual, had a positive attitude for the job and a more productive manner.
Mr. Bui Ngoc Chanh said that officials had a change in attitudes was not necessary related to the CCTV, yet the existence of those cameras somehow reminded them of staying focus on their work. These security cameras with built-in microphones can capture and record employees’ activities of processing people and solving problems regarding administrative procedures so that working manners and productivity of each employee can be evaluated. Therefore, the officials have become more aware of their responsibility for the people and the government.
According to Thua Thien Hue authorities, before the installment of cameras, they occasionally got feedback from people on officials’ working manners at “one-door” offices, though, concrete evidence of these incidents was not collected, so it was difficult to handle them. Now that surveillance cameras were installed, leaders find it easier to deal with reported incidents, if any by using data from those cameras to investigate. If officials are proved to be innocent, gathered information can be used to vindicate them and give satisfactory responses to the people. However, from that on, the authorities haven’t received any reports on the officials’ negative attitude and working manners regarding administrative procedure handling.
Towards a citizen-friendly administration
Before cameras were installed at the “one-door” offices of 27 wards, many surveillance cameras had been installed in the Department of Reception and Releasing the results, in the Center for Public Administration, Hue city. Now cameras are also installed inside the Center to monitor the activities, time, manner, and attitudes of officials working in the Center. All the surveillance cameras at these wards are connected to the city People’s Committee, and to two large screen on the third floor hall for the city leaders as well as the people to observe the whole working process of officials at the “one-door” offices.
At such wards of An Dong, Kim Long, Tay Loc, etc., where the working areas of Department of Reception and Releasing of Results are pretty large, two cameras have been installed to keep these places under mass surveillance. The provincial authorities also rented separate wireless lines for camera connection to gain faster access and easier monitoring. However, due to the recent submarine cable breaks, transmission lines became less frequent, causing an interrupted audio-visual display on the screen. Representatives from provincial People's Committee have contacted the internet provider to tackle this issue.
Leaders of Thuan Thanh Ward said that the ward staff were notified of the camera installation in advance. As a result, all staff members have been more punctual and taken their job more seriously. However, executives of wards have suggested being granted private passwords allowing them to get direct access to the cameras to monitor officials’ working process when needed. Also, extracting data from these cameras should be done easily to address relevant problems. Regarding these suggestions, the provincial authorities were working with the internet provider to give each ward a password soon. At the same time, cameras would be installed at the provincial Department of the Interior and at the office of Vice Chairman of provincial People's Committee, Mr Vo Le Nhat, who is in charge of administrative reform so that he could easily monitor the work.
At a seminar on recent administrative reform, standing member of the provincial committee, and municipal party committee secretary, Mr. Huynh Cu confirmed that Hue is more and more oriented towards a citizen-friendly and modern public administration. Therefore, besides facility investment, Thua Thien Hue authorities will evaluate officials’ productivity based on their working process for dealing with administrative procedures. In addition, a set of criteria for assessing the satisfaction of the citizens at officials’ working manners will be developed. Any official or ward leader who does not process files in a timely manner will be dismissed or transferred.
Story and photo: Tâm Huệ