Protocol, continued

There are times when I find myself bashing my head against the brick wall of insane processes that some private companies and government saddle themselves with.  Convoluted, paper-dense, hard to follow processes that are so time consuming to carry out properly that people either don't bother to do anything, or they go around the processes altogether in order to get things done.

Yesterday was different.  I discovered what on the surface appears to be a fairly simple process.  The officer at the Department of Premier & Cabinet who deals with protocol rang me back and told me that if I wanted a new flag for Five Dock Police Station, I had to call the Office of Police Protocol - they handle the issue of flags to Police Stations.  She even gave me their phone number.

One call later, I had learned that ordering a flag is as easy as ordering a Police uniform (assuming you actually work for the Police).  I don't know how hard it is to order a uniform, but given that all the Police I've seen lately have been walking around in more than their underwear, it can't be that hard.

The Constable in the Police Protocol office said that he would call Five Dock station and tell them that a member of the public was unhappy with their flag, and the way that they are treating it, and could they please order a new one through the appropriate channels.  The Constable said he'd even make sure he sends them a booklet on flag protocol.

If it was that easy for me, as a complete outsider, to work out what to do, I have only one question to ask - why hasn't anyone in the Burwood command bothered to do this for the last 6 months?  It's really not that hard.