The relative impacts of normative and instrumental factors of policing on willingness to empower the police: A study from Jamaica

Abstract This study is the first to assess citizen willingness to empower the police in the Caribbean. The study examines the relative impacts of normative and instrumental models of policing on willingness to empower the police in a sample of Jamaican citizens. Using data from a survey of Jamaican citizens, procedural justice and educational level predicted police empowerment; obligation to obey, age, sex, police effectiveness, and risk of sanctioning did not. The study’s findings point to the importance of the process-based model of policing in different geopolitical contexts. Specifically, the study addresses why procedural justice, a normative model, may engender willingness to empower the police in this group of Jamaican citizens. This finding is important because normative models generally exert a stronger influence than instrumental models in advanced democracies, whereas the opposite is the case in emerging democracies and postcolonial societies, such as Jamaica. The implications for policing, policy, and future research are discussed.