Public confidence in the police: tests of instrumental and expressive models in a developing country city

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the effect of instrumental and expressive concerns on public confidence in the police in three different residential areas in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana’s third largest city. The study was important because of the knowledge vacuum that existed in regard to the empirical validity of the instrumental and expressive theoretical framework within the Ghanaian context. Data for the study was drawn from a baseline survey conducted in three residential areas in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis. The findings revealed that instrumental factors played a more significant role in influencing confidence in the police in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis compared to expressive factors. More importantly, instrumental factors played a more significant role in influencing confidence in the police at Anaji compared to the other two residential areas used in the study. The paper recommends that there should be more investment in police infrastructure and services to enhance police effectiveness and efficiency. Additionally, the authors also suggest that interventions aimed at improving security at the community level should be guided by periodic safety audits since this will provide a better understanding of the criminogenic problems within these residential settlements.

KEYWORDS:

• Public confidence
• policing
• fear of crime
• collective efficacy
• Ghana

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In most societies in Ghana, the household head is normally the male head of the family or household. However for this study, females who happen to be marriage partners of the male head of the household were sampled for the face to face structured interview in the absence of the male head at the time of the survey.

2. An Assemblyman or Assemblywoman is a representative of the local community (i.e. electoral area) in the local governing unit which may be a District, Municipal or Metropolitan Assembly depending on the population size.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) & Department for International Development (DFID) [107349-001].

Notes on contributors

Louis Kusi Frimpong

Louis Kusi Frimpong is a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, Legon. His research interests include the linkage between neighbourhood conditions and fear of crime, police and community engagement in an urban context and social capital in urban neighbourhoods.

Martin Oteng-Ababio

Martin Oteng-Ababio is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, Legon. He has undertaken a number of researches in the area of urbanisation, waste management and crime and security issues.

George Owusu

George Owusu is a Professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and the Department of Geography and Resource Development, both at University of Ghana, Legon. He has done extensive research on urban issues including crime and security issues.

Charlotte Wrigley-Asante

Charlotte Wrigley-Asante is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, Legon. She has undertaken a number of researches in the area of gender, poverty and empowerment issues in Ghana with her current interest in gender, crime and safety issues.