The University of Michigan Police Department Oversight Committee, established under Act 120 of the Public Acts of 1990, was designed to maintain accountability within the U-M Division of Public Safety & Security. The PDOC is tasked with overseeing and addressing complaints and grievances against individual police officers, as well as the department itself, but has not encountered any complaints that have warranted disciplinary action over the past year.
PDOC consists of a six-member team that includes two U-M students, two U-M faculty members —one Senate faculty and one non-Senate faculty — and two U-M staff members, one union and one non-union. PDOC members are nominated and elected by their respective groups. The student PDOC position is elected by the entire student body through a ranked choice vote in CSG elections. All students serve a one-year term on PDOC, staggered between the spring and fall elections, while faculty and staff serve two-year terms. Law School student Ryan Stults was most recently elected to serve on the committee in the December CSG election.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, Stults explained both the role PDOC plays on campus and the role he plays as a part of the committee.
“PDOC plays an important role by giving members of our community an outlet to voice their concerns to a democratically accountable committee outside the law enforcement agency,” Stults wrote. “The student perspective is critical, and it’s an honor to serve. Most of the concerns we receive are from students, and most community members that UMPD interacts with are students. The students of PDOC have the unique privilege to represent a large cohort of our University and ensure that our University is engaged and responsive to our concerns.”
The PDOC meets monthly under the chairmanship of Bryan K. Roby, associate professor of Judaic and Middle East studies. In an interview with The Daily, Roby discussed the origins of the oversight committee.
“The oversight committee is a committee established actually prior to (DPSS),” Rody said. “It’s required by state law that in order to have police on campus, you need to have an oversight committee before that.”
Roby said DPSS conducts an internal review of all complaints sent to PDOC. PDOC also carries out its own independent investigation but does not possess the ultimate authority to impose discipline. Instead, the committee provides disciplinary or policy recommendations to Crystal James, interim DPSS Chief of Police. James and University Human Resources have the final say in deciding whether to implement these suggestions.
In an email to The Daily, Melissa Overton, Deputy Chief of Police for DPSS, said the department works with PDOC to improve campus safety.
“The Police Department and PDOC continuously work together on process improvements consistent with legal, regulatory and other requirements,” Overton wrote. “A suggestion to not follow evidence-based best practices on safety procedures is an example of one that would not be followed. This is accompanied with an explanation and exploration of the underlying concern and ways to safely achieve the desired outcome.”
From June 2022 to August 2023, the committee received 26 complaints, none of which led to disciplinary action.
Roby noted the absence of substantial recommendations from the PDOC and said most complaints involve individual officers as opposed to department-wide problems.
“So far we haven’t had any substantial recommendations, but the types of complaints that we receive are the ones regarding questions of racial bias, unnecessary use of force or just rudeness,” Roby said.
Stults, who has been employed with a suburban Detroit police department since 2021, said he believes it is important for all officers to be held to a high ethical standard.
“Every police academy graduation I have attended contains a recitation of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics,” Stults said. “It has always struck a chord with me that each of these officers learn to live by this code. I believe that UMPD officers hold themselves to the same code of ethics and desire to honorably serve their community.”
Roby also said the committee’s biggest challenges are high turnover rates and a heavy workload.
“I think one of the biggest challenges is retention,” Roby said. “Sometimes it’s a lot of work for students or those who join don’t take it as seriously, so that means it’s more work for the rest of the committee. For faculty, in particular, who have often acted as the chair, are also teaching a full teaching load, so they don’t have any kind of compensation or service for later releases. We’re doing everything on top of our normal duties which can be quite a lot.”
All complaints about DPSS can be sent anonymously or with a preferred name to PDOC on the Police Department Grievance and Complaint Form.
Daily Staff Reporter Emma Spring can be reached at sprinemm@umich.edu.