8.3.1 The User

The user enters any implementation program with a given level of comitment, educational and experiential background, and degree of authority. is or her serious dedication to the particular problem area under study is essential for success of the program. The concern of the school superintendent the school-busing example can be contrasted with the lack of concern of the police commissioner ("Why spend time and money remaking already adequate decisions?"). Implementation has always been much more likely in situation in which the agency steps forward and announces a problem in need of a solution (thus reflecting commitment), rather than one in which an analyst goes to an agency with a problem solution looking for a needy user. he latter mistake was made in the "bus clumping" mini case.)

The training and technical background of the user(s) is obviously important. In a technical sense, one needs to know the appropriate level of complexity for the model/user interface. How much can the user(s) be expected to know about statistics, probabilities, means, modes, medians, variances, and so on? At a more subtle level, it has been the experience of the authors that agency personnel often tend to think of their agency's operation in clinical terms (i.e., on a case-by-case basis) rather than conceptually or in terms of statistical patterns. Case recollection is often based on extremes, not averages. "I remember during the flood of 1954, when...," the scenario might go. Thus, the whole concept of models, with their implied statistical regularities and their inability to incorporate all possible extreme events, is foreign to many urban decision makers. A model's implementor must be sensitive to this issue and attempt, through simple examples, to convey the meaning of models, together with their uses and their limitations.

The position and power of user(s) clearly influence the likelihood of eventual implementation. A limited-duty sergeant is not adequate as the sole contact point for a massive patrol redeployment effort. Even a highranking official, operating alone, may not be a sufficient resource to promote implementation.