Period of transition

If you've been the victim of a violent crime, this isn't exactly the kind of mistake you want to happen:

More than 3,600 crime victims across Indiana mistakenly received messages Thursday telling them that the person who committed the crime against them would be released from the Department of Correction.

Indiana DOC spokesman Douglas Garrison said vendor Appriss handles the state's automated victim notification service. Garrison said the company was doing routine maintenance on the system when the messages -- largely erroneous -- went out to people registered for the service.

Guess it could have been worse -- 3,000 criminals could have been released and the victims not notified.

The story quotes some of those erroneously notified about the anguish they went through before learning it was all a mistake, and a lawyer said maybe this is the kind of thing government shouldn't contract out -- "This is government on the cheap." It could have been the vendor's fault or not -- it's the kind of mistake a government employee could make, too.

But the lawyer has a point. The reason to contract out services is to serve the people who are supposed to be served and give the taxpayers real value. It shouldn't be just about saving money. There is a certain pattern that almost always seems to develop in these privatization efforts. At first, things go really badly (business knows as little about government operations, probably, as government knows about how to "operate like a business"). Then, things settle down, and the operation really is better and more efficient than ever. The BMV is a good example; it's one of best run agencies in the state now, and until things straightend out, customers just had to go through some irritating inconceniences.

But some services cannot go through rough transition periods with so little consequence. People who depend on welfare go through real hardships when the vendor screws up. Some of these crime victims were unnecessarily scared out of their wits.

That's not a reason not to privatize these services. But the government officials who are turning them over need to exercise a little more oversight, and "expected transitional difficulties" shouldn't be accepted as an excuse.