The Relative Effects of Normative and Instrumental Models of Policing on Police Empowerment: Evidence From a Sample of Sub-Saharan African Immigrants

Abstract

This study examines the relative impacts of normative and instrumental models of policing on willingness to empower the police in a sample of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United States. Using data from a survey of 304 Ghanaian immigrants, obligation to obey, procedural justice, effectiveness, and gender predicted police empowerment; legitimacy of Ghana police and risk of sanctioning did not. The results also show that obligation to obey may be distinct from legitimacy. The findings from the current study point to the importance of the process-based model of policing in different geopolitical contexts, including the sub-Saharan African immigrant community in the United States. Specifically, obligation to obey and procedural justice play pivotal roles in engendering willingness to empower the police in the sub-Saharan African immigrant community. The implications of these findings are discussed.