Street-level bureaucrats act as liaisons between government policy-makers and citizens and these civil servants implement policy decisions made by senior officials in the public service and/or by elected officials.

Street-level bureaucracy (SLB) is a sociological theory that seeks to explain the working practices and beliefs of front-line workers in public services and the ways in which they enact public policy in their routine work.

The author indicates most people employed by criminal justice organizations can be described as street-level bureaucrats, as public employees who interact with non-voluntary clients and have a considerable amount of discretion about how to deal with these clients, and he argues street-level bureaucrats must do their ...

Street-level bureaucrats—from teachers and police officers to social workers and legal-aid lawyers—interact directly with the public and so represent the frontlines of government policy.