University of Michigan committee: Public safety changes suggested following employee's grievance after arrest
The University of Michigan Department of Public Safety Oversight Committee released its report on a grievance filed by a former university faculty member who was arrested during a confrontation with officers after submitting his resignation.
Andrei Borisov, a former non-tenured faculty member in the university’s Department of Pediatrics, was arrested in September 2008 after an altercation that occurred while cleaning out his office.
After being acquitted on criminal charges related to the incident, Borisov filed a grievance with the committee, which decided against making any discipline recommendations to any of the officers involved.
Borisov filed a lawsuit against several former U-M colleagues in October over the events that led to his departure from the university.
The university and Borisov reached a settlement in the lawsuit and as a result Borisov withdrew all grievances against the university, according to committee officials.
The committee made several policy recommendations to the university to avoid similar incidents in the future. They include: keeping DPS officers outside of a meeting with an employee in a similar circumstance and giving officers proper instructions on how long an employee has to clean out their office.
To view a PDF copy of the report, click here.
The report stated the officers should not have participated in Borisov’s meeting, which they did repeatedly.
Additionally, according to the report, an officer assigned to the meeting “told the Chair that she should terminate Dr. Borisov, because he was not going to sign the letter. The officers continued to play a role in urging Dr. Borisove to resign, and in any event urging him to decide quickly. These interventions were plainly improper.”
The report states Borisov believed he would continue to be a full employee of U-M until Sept. 12, 2008, but was told to clean out his office immediately. The report stated the letter of resignation Borisov signed made no mention of terms of resignation laid out by the chair of the department.
When Borisov was clearing out his office, officers gave him a 20-minute limit, which the report stated “very likely exacerbated the situation,” purportedly because the officers’ shift was ending. The report recommended that DPS command should make sure that the end of an officer’s shift does not conflict with an operation.
The report stated the process should have been supervised by a member of the department instead of DPS officers, who should only intervene to protect the security of those present.
Before the 20-minute limit was over, one of the DPS officers read Borisov the university’s trespass warning, which the report stated was unjustified. The report stated officers should have had more patience with Borisov, who was going through an emotionally trying time.
Timothy Slottow, U-M executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a statement that he appreciated the work of the committee and he would take the recomendations in the report to heart.
“I strive to create a culture where we continuously improve,” Slottow said. “The comments and recommendations the committee provided will serve as a foundation to help us successfully craft and implement the necessary changes.”
At least one member of the committee disagreed with the committee’s report that officers had acted out of line.
John Nichols wrote that officers spent more than an hour with Borisov and gave him time to clean out his office. He said he believed Borisov escalated the situation.
“I believe that the officers were patient with Dr. Borisov during their time together,” Nichols said. “Unfortunately, the situation turned in another direction when certain requests were made by the officers were not met and unfortunately an arrest was made.”
Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Ricebrnr
Mon, May 9, 2011 : 12:32 p.m.
In this case I'm more worried by the masters than the dogs. It's top down and those giving the orders are the main problem. Those academics in their Ivory Towers have ever thought the knew better and what is best for the peons below. It's not necessarily the fault of DPS that they forget they are officers of the law first and the U of M's goons never if the power structure reinforces it. I wonder if DPS officers swear to uphold the constitution?...
snapshot
Mon, May 9, 2011 : 5:28 a.m.
More abuse of authority that would be considered a crime and prosecuted if commited by a "civilian" but police officers get away with it daily? I agree with Riceburner.....who polices the police? This is a very "disturbing" scenario, very disturbing.
Ricebrnr
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 11:54 p.m.
That they won't abuse and suppress the rights of citizens again? That a half million dollar lesson need not be forgotten and repeated? Just a suggestion...
15crown00
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 7:33 p.m.
whatever happened or didn't happen if the mighty M agreed to rehire him and paid him a 1/2 million $ they're pretty much admitting guilt.what else is there 2 say?
trespass
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 12:46 a.m.
The University has lifted the trespass warning against Dr. Borisov. They have promised to lift the ban on his being rehired by the University and they have paid him more than a half million dollars. I think that says a lot about who was at fault in this situation. The reason that so many of us have worked so hard on Dr. Borisov's behalf is not only because the University had been so unfair to him but because this is not an isolated incident. This is a well practiced pattern where a chair or a dean accuses a whistleblower of being dangerous and then uses the campus police to read them a trespass warning and bar them from campus and bypass their due process rights.
trespass
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 12:36 a.m.
There is a misconception about whether Dr. Borisov was no longer an employee. He had already been offered a position in another department but when he asked Asst. Dean Margaret Gyetko how he should go about transferring to the new position, she told him that he had to go and resign in person to his current Chair, Dr. Valerie Castle before he could sign the new offer. This was a trick to get him to resign before he had a signed offer. He was given a quick meeting the same afternoon, where he expected to resign one position to take another but was instead met by two police officers and told that his behavior had be "threatening". They refused to say what behavior was threatening or who had accused him and Dr. Castle said "true or untrue" she had a duty to act. He asked for the charges to be put in writing but Dr. Castle told him that if she put in in writing that the officers would arrest him. The University has issued a statement, which is an apology of sorts, but they put it on an obscure webpage under the VP for communications. <a href="http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/pa/key/documents/BorisovStatement.pdf" rel='nofollow'>http://www.vpcomm.umich.edu/pa/key/documents/BorisovStatement.pdf</a>
trespass
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 10:54 a.m.
Mick52- When Dr. Borisov became aware that he was in danger because of his whistleblowing, he was warned by colleagues that he should always carry an audio recorder with him in any meetings where he was alone. Therefore the entire meeting and arrest are recorded and I have heard the recording and viewed the transcript. The jurors in his criminal trial heard portions of the transcript and acquitted him of all charges. When the DPS Oversight Committee originally said that they would release the report they were threatened by the University General Counsel if they published their report. The case is now settled so there is no longer any excuse for the University not to comment on what they think went wrong in this case and what they will do to fix it.
Mick52
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 9:20 a.m.
Interesting post. Do you have a source? Seems like more info than has been released. I do not know why any police officer would tell a person his behavior is threatening and not tell him what specific behavior the are referring to. That does not make sense. If true, there may be some POs that should not be.
Ricebrnr
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 10:45 p.m.
Security guards are generally available to escort terminated employees from places of business. Dpd officers have to full powers of the State and yet are answerable only to a a private entity. Mission creep? You think? Thank you U of M powers that be for re-illustrating what happens when a small secretive body is given enforcer powers.... Can you say "bannana republic"?
trespass
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 11:03 a.m.
Mick52- The DPS Oversight Committee is mandated by state law but the University did not have any elections for faculty or student members for more than 10 years. They still do not see all complaints against officers because the victim has to know that they can file a complaint with the committee. Any complaint filed with the DPS directly is investigated internally and only given to the committee in an annual report (an Excel spreadsheet). The University General Counsel's office wrote rules for the committee that says that all findings of the committee are secret. The committee was threatened by the General Counsel if they release this report. They were at least brave enough to do so anyway.
Mick52
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 9:16 a.m.
UM PD eliminated security guards years back. I am thinking you are a little off base. You are correct that DPS have full police powers but your statement they are answerable only to a private entity is odd. DPS officers are answerable to the governing board, and the U administration, just as any municipal PD is. And there is this review/complaint committee. What PD has that? Secretive body? What is so secret about it? Really just another police department. Not a CIA, NSA or KGB.
Mick52
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 9:19 p.m.
This is so out of whack, I would like to hear the other side of this story. In a situation like this, if an administrator requests police presence, it is best to have them in plain clothes and in a nearby room in the event tempers flair. The presence of police can incite emotions, so it makes no sense to have the POs front and center. If the POs were present and visible, I would presume that was at the request of the staff who had some fear of this fellow. Also, department personnel must be present when a terminated employee clears his belongings to make sure no university property or proprietary documents are not inappropriately taken. Better yet, his belongings should have already been boxed up by the department. He can then be given the opportunity to inventory and bring up anything missing. The reading of the trespass warning is not an issue, and again probably at the request of the department. It is a non issue because he is no longer an employee and has no authority to be present. As written this story has resulted in a lot of criticism on the police, when they may have been acting at the request of an administrator. It is a management issue at the PD, not with the officers. I read the committee's report. Worthless. No attribution, no names, no documentation on how the information was obtained. No explanation of why officers were in the room. It appears the committee did not interview anyone involved in this incident. As an investigation it is worthless. Upon reading, it one big question, Why? is not answered. Also, it inserts what the police should do. I agree that the POs should not have been included in the discussion of the subjects work. But I want to know why they were there. That like much, is unanswered. Reads like it was written on information given by a single person and when you read it you have no idea where facts noted came from. Good opportunity for the committee to look into a complaint and they blew it. Grade: D
Stephen Landes
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 7:31 p.m.
"Inappropriate" does not begin to describe the actions of DPS in this case. Everything about this incident says to me that what DPS cares about is their own convenience -- the attitude is not one of serving the needs of University employees or even former employees. Even a former employee deserves to be treated with respect; the articles I've read on this case indicate that respect was not even on the DPS radar screen.
a2susan
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 7:07 p.m.
I'm not surprised by anything the university does to its employees. The university is mainly concerned about power, control, and its public image. Anyone who threatens or tarnishes those images is history. Been there, done that, survived despite it.
Cash
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 8:32 p.m.
Susan, I'm glad that you survived it! Large universities have way too much power on their campuses IMO. And even worse? They can hide anything they want to hide with their own police force, reporting only to them. That is why every school has their own force...control ALL information.
Omega Man
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 5:15 p.m.
What happened with the plagiarism charges Borisov claimed regarding the National Institute of Health grant? The article says "an agreement was reached". Was there plagiarism or not? An annarbor.com article about how the university approaches plagiarism may be in order. "<a href="http://www.lib.umich.edu/academic-integrity/understanding-plagiarism-and-academic-integrity"" rel='nofollow'>http://www.lib.umich.edu/academic-integrity/understanding-plagiarism-and-academic-integrity&quot;</a> FAQs looks like plagiarism is not penalized as strictly as at other universities.
trespass
Sun, May 8, 2011 : 12:21 a.m.
The University refused to investigate the charges of plagiarism. With the case settled the University can now bury any such charges.
katie
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 1:41 p.m.
Wow! Just wow! I've been strongly against cutting police and firefighter funding. This makes me take a second look at this as far as the police go. It is so unacceptable, it leaves me speechless. If this doctor was an academic, giving him 20 minutes to clear out his office is totally unacceptable, too. Likely he has sets of his own very expensive academic books and paper that cannot be replicated. This is particularly so if he was doing research. This is unlike businesses where people have very few professional items of their own. I am very, very disappointed in the university and in the police.
eagleman
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 3:12 p.m.
Katie, basing your opinion of funding for police officers on this incident makes very little sense. One, this is UM's police department and thus not directly subject to budget cuts at a state or local level.The budget cut debate is not relevant to this discussion. Two, this is a single incident. No one incident should have such a profound impact on your opinion. A person should base their opinion on a wealth of evidence. If there are other similiar incidents like this that you are aware of then by all means permit it to color your opinion. But one such incident is not sufficient. Three, cutting officers is not likely to deter events such as these. In fact, it may increase the likelyhood as the current force is forced to work more hours and thus experience more stress as a result. Abuse of the position occurs all too often in our law enforcement--indeed in EVERY profession--so this should not leave you "speechless". And truth to be told, the abuses detailed are mild in comparison to what we have seen before.(Rodney King for example) That does not justify DPS's actions, but it does put the incident into context.
Ellen
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 1:36 p.m.
There's an interesting back-story to this one ... there was a lot of emotion flying around, I imagine. <a href="http://www.michigandaily.com/content/daily-university-misconduct" rel='nofollow'>http://www.michigandaily.com/content/daily-university-misconduct</a>
Ellen
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 1:40 p.m.
Sorry, this report has more info: <a href="http://www.michigandaily.com/files/AAUP%20Report.pdf" rel='nofollow'>http://www.michigandaily.com/files/AAUP%20Report.pdf</a>
Ricebrnr
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 12:29 p.m.
What happens when the mission is no longer keeping the peace but keeping people "in line"?
Angela Barbash
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 10:52 p.m.
Amen Ricebrnr. Amen.
ronaldduck
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 11:09 a.m.
The biggest mistake he made was in not realising that when the police are present thay are in charge of everything and everybody! As Cartman so eloquently put it. You Will Respect My Authoritah!
Cash
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 10:29 a.m.
Hmmm..who is the Chief of Public Safety at UM now?
Awakened
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 10:10 a.m.
You must do what ever the officers say in any socialist-totalitarian state. He should have known that.
Huron74
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 3:07 p.m.
Yep. The truth is finally stated openly. Prepare for an onslaught of statist abuse to follow my friend.
bedrog
Sat, May 7, 2011 : 11:15 a.m.
get a grip!!