Ever feel like you are being watched? It's what Kreston Martin, a Kinesiology senior, feels at on-campus events, whenever the Department of Public Safety is on the scene.

Is DPS trying to be sneaky because a bunch of black folks are attending the event, he wonders.

Some minority students, especially those in the black community say they are concerned with DPS's practices that seem to come into play only when their communities are involved. These security measures, some students say, are only used when certain groups have dances or parties.

One event that has sparked consistent criticism of DPS is the National Pan-Hellenic Council Icebreaker, an annual event held in the Michigan Union to introduce students to the University's black Greek community.

Concerns about video surveillance, as well as the presence of six officers and a "paddywagon"- a van used to transport prisoners from jail to court - at this year's Icebreaker led to an October meeting between DPS, members of various minority student groups and representatives from the Office of Student Affairs.

Riana Anderson, president of the campus NAACP, said the organization wanted to push DPS to change protocols that her group feels unfairly target minorities and add to a negative campus climate. These changes included scaling back surveillance of events and making the crime alerts more detailed to avoid singling out a particular racial group.

DPS officials addressed student complaints regarding seemingly discriminatory practices.

DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said students must understand that the protocols are necessary to ensure the security of campus events. In addition, all groups, regardless of race, are subjected to the same protocols, she added.

Brown said that DPS sent about six officers to cover the Icebreaker because one officer is needed for every hundred people at an event in the Michigan Union.

"It was helpful once (the students) understood the detail of the dance party policy, which is the policy that any student group holding an event in the Union has to follow," Brown said. "An exchange of information took place at this meeting, and therefore I think it was beneficial."

Brown said a lack of communication between DPS and students could be feeding negative perceptions of the University's police force.

Some black students agreed with Brown.

"Communication in general is the problem or the cause of tension between the black community and DPS," Martin of NPHC said "I think a lot of people feel the same way. We don't have a problem with DPS being at the event for security, but many (students) don't understand DPS's practices, such as (videotaping)."

Laban King, a member of the Black Student Union, said the meeting was an important step in improving relations between DPS and students.

"People need to personally know their rights and how to respond to situations with the police," King said. "They need to be knowledgeable of how to use the University if they do have a complaint. It is the job of the University to inform students and the responsibility of students to gain and use that knowledge."

But Anderson said the meeting between students, DPS and administrators was not productive as a whole because DPS did not wish to change its security protocols.

"They were giving a rationale for what happened," Anderson said. "It was explanatory, but not really dealing with attempts to change it."

Alex Moffett, a NAACP vice president, also had a negative reaction to DPS protocols. Moffett said policies needlessly come at the cost of promoting a positive campus climate.

"The University has racial climate issues, as we have seen through hate crimes and racial slurs," Moffett said. "Something needs to be done to improve the climate for all students."

The meeting also involved discussion over DPS's crime alerts, which many students perceive as racially biased and perpetuate stereotypes.

For crimes believed to be a threat to public safety, DPS is required by law to issue an alert with as much description as quickly as possible, Brown said, adding that DPS is dependent on victim and witness descriptions.

"One challenge is that most crime on our campus appears to be perpetrated by people of college age, dressed similarly to college students," Brown said. "They are pretty clean-cut looking individuals. They aren't missing teeth and they don't have a patch over their eye or a huge scar on their face, which are distinguishing characteristics. So we do the best we can."