Public Administration and Trust: A (very short) Parable

Society: Water smells funny

Bureaucracy: Not clear what you are referring to. Everything is fine.

Society: Yea, ok. But water still smells funny. Like gasoline or something?

Bureaucracy: Ok, we’ll test it. But keep drinking. Everything looks normal — we monitor this stuff you know. We’re not amateurs. We have gauges and dials and equipment and stuff.

Bureaucracy (after a time delay): Tests came back. Like we told you earlier, water is safe. Keep drinking

Society: But water still smells funny.

Bureaucracy: We tested it. It is safe. Don’t worry. We know what we are doing. This is our job. We are here to give you safe water.

Society (good trusting people part): I have faith that the people doing their jobs know their jobs. I am confident in my water supply. I will keep drinking the water.

Society (skeptic/paranoid part): No way am I drinking that. Water still smells like gas. I don’t care what they say. I’m not drinking that stuff and I’m certainly not giving it to my children

Bureaucracy (after a time delay): DON’T DRINK THE WATER. THERE IS GASOLINE IN THE WATER. REPEAT: DON’T DRINK THE WATER. COME TO CITY HALL AND LOCAL RECREATION CENTRES TO GET FREE BOTTLED WATER. ALERT EVERYONE. WATER IS NOT SAFE. DO NOT DRINK.

Bureaucracy (after further longer time delay): Our water testing regime does not test for gasoline. It is not listed in guidelines or regulations. Therefore when the tests came back everything was “safe” because all the harmful things that we test for in potable water were either not present, or not present in sufficient quantities to pose a danger to the public.

But it turns out that the smell of gasoline was indicative of the slight (but remote) possibility of gasoline in the water. So we then, somewhat reluctantly — because it wasn’t really necessary — tested for gasoline. When we actually tested for gasoline, to our surprise, we did find it. Once we found the presence of the gasoline through the scientific procedures designed specifically to determine presence (or lack thereof) of gasoline, then the water became “unsafe”. Once the water became “unsafe”, we then alerted the public, provided alternative sources of water, etc.

Bureaucracy: So, in the end, the system worked well. We found the gasoline. And once we found it, we took all the necessary actions to protect our citizens.

Society: I don’t trust you. And I’m not sure if I ever will again.