Design of quality service systems in the public sector: Use of quality function deployment in police services

Successful service design and development requires a systematic approach that links and interfaces with a comprehensive set of customer needs, their translation into various service attributes, and the development of a properly designed service process. One of the systematic tools for making the above links is quality function deployment or QFD, which has been adapted for service environments. In this paper, a service QFD analysis was implemented at a federal police station in Belgium in order to match better the demands and needs of the general public and authorities to the activities deployed by the police service. The civilian is considered to be the consumer, customer, and partner of the policing services. This fits well in today's concept of 'community policing', which emphasizes the link between the general public and the police. Important advantages of the QFD methodology include the structured manner of communication between the different constituents, and the sharing of information in teams when developing 'new' services. The most important benefit stems from a better matching of the deployed services with the needs of the customer.