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The police killing of George Floyd and other high-profile incidents of force sparked massive protests around the world. Amidst eroding public perceptions of police legitimacy, politicians and activists have sought to achieve systemic change. Over the past year, several cities in the United States have implemented various police reform initiatives, including reallocating resources, cutting budgets, and downsizing specialized units. As a result of these changes, the “defund the police” movement may have far-reaching consequences on police culture, especially within specialized units most affected by budget and resource changes. Furthermore, as fentanyl overdoses are surging and the American opioid crisis continues, specialized drug investigation units face a host of challenges in responding to increases in drug-related crime in the aftermath of “defund the police”. Therefore, this study aims to examine the experiences of a Drug Investigation Section in a large metropolitan city.

This study uses data from semi-structured interviews conducted between October 2021 to May 2022. The results of this study provide a thematic analysis that explores the narcotics detectives' perceptions of key features of police culture, as well as how current challenges affect those perceptions.

Key features of the police culture were noticeably absent from detectives' responses, including an overemphasis on danger, machismo, conservatism, and social isolation. Elements of cynicism, group solidarity, and a mission/action-orientation, did emerge. The context of “defund the police” did little to alter their perceptions, except for heightening cynicism and negative perceptions of politicians and prosecutors (a form of “us vs them”, but not involving citizens). The interviews also revealed various other changes that have occurred in recent years that have adversely affected the section's traditional investigative capabilities, especially with regard to illicit fentanyl distribution, though the addition of an intelligence analyst minimized those negative effects.

This study adds to the scarce research on contemporary police culture in specialized units, especially in the aftermath of the “defund the police” movement, providing a glimpse into its context within a drug investigation section and its potential effects on police culture and narcotics investigations.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the environment in which law enforcement officers operate is a main source of their job satisfaction, which is related to their overall work performance. In this line of research, a recent study by Johnson (2015) examined the organizational, job, and officer characteristics that may predict a police officer’s organizational commitment.

The current study replicates and extends the analyses performed in that study using an alternative data source to understand the influence of these measures on sheriff deputies’ organizational commitment during their organization’s shift to community-oriented policing.

Our results, while similar to those of Johnson (2015), revealed some unique findings. For example, in the current analyses, several organizational- and job- factors were significantly associated with deputies’ commitment to the sheriffs’ office. Specifically, deputies who report receiving higher supervisor feedback, higher peer cohesion, higher job variety and autonomy, and lower job-related stress were more highly committed to their law enforcement agency.

Key implications emerge for police administrators aspiring to influence employee organizational commitment during major agency shifts.

Overall, the present paper largely supports and progresses the findings of Johnson (2015) by extending them to sheriffs’ deputies, who are still largely underrepresented in policing research, and to an agency undergoing a dramatic organizational change. As such, the present study represents an important next step in understanding the factors that influence organizational commitment in law enforcement organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the nature of campus police and city police in the areas of human resource and select community policing practices and policies. This comparison serves as an update to the work of Bromley and Reaves (1998a, b) and Bromley (2003).

This paper utilizes the Bureau of Justice Statistics Campus Police Reports from 2012 and the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Reports from 2007 and 2013 to provide a comparison between campus and city departments in matters of human resource and community outreach policies and practices, paying special attention to demographics, salary, education, training, pre-employment screening, collective bargaining, community-policing, and special programs utilized.

The data suggest that, while differences do exist between campus and city practices, there are a substantial number of similarities between the two. In some areas, such as workforce diversity, campus police are somewhat ahead of their city counterparts. These findings indicate that campus departments are a primary piece of the larger law enforcement community.

Overall, the comparisons continue to reinforce the notion that campus departments are part of the larger law enforcement community. This information may provide insights for both campus and city police executives, as well as to top-level executives at institutions of higher education.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This paper examines the determinants of corporate dividend policy in Jordan. The study uses a firm‐level panel data set of all publicly traded firms on the Amman Stock Exchange between 1989 and 2000. The study develops eight research hypotheses, which are used to represent the main theories of corporate dividends. A general‐to‐specific modeling approach is used to choose between the competing hypotheses. The study examines the determinants of the amount of dividends using Tobit specifications. The results suggest that the proportion of stocks held by insiders and state ownership significantly affect the amount of dividends paid. Size, age, and profitability of the firm seem to be determinant factors of corporate dividend policy in Jordan. The findings provide strong support for the agency costs hypothesis and are broadly consistent with the pecking order hypothesis. The results provide no support for the signaling hypothesis.

Conventional wisdom in the oil world is that the issue in the future will not be a lack of demand but a scarcity of oil. But this view is challenged by less conventional trends that allow us to propose an alternative scenario in which demand for oil in the near future falls dramatically with the development of new or alternative sources of energy capable of taking over the hegemonic role played by oil. The article examines the environmental, technological, corporate and economic, and political factors which support this alternative scenario. This analysis is used to consider the implications for OPEC and especially Venezuela of a shift away from oil to alternative sources of energy. The Second OPEC Summit in Caracas in September 2000 provides an opportunity for OPEC to look to the future, to focus on the transition to a new energy paradigm and consider its consequences for oil producing countries.