The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, January 25, 2010 - 5A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, January 25, 2010 - 5A DPS OVERSIGHT From Page lA that complaint, we'll decide wheth- er or not to step up to an internal investigation," Brown said. She said most complaints are from people who are not satisfied with the way an officer treated them and from people who are not happy about being thrown out of a football game for being drunk. Regardless of the incident, DPS reviews each complaint by talking to the officer in question, available witnesses, the person who filed the complaint and viewing any evi- dence like video footage. Brown said an investigation is never led by the supervisor of the officer in question "so that there's some sort of independent eye." " After an investigation is com- pleted, a complaint is deemed either unfounded or founded. Brown said DPS investigations determine most of the complaints to be "unfounded," meaning a citi- zen voiced concern about an offi- cer, but the investigation concluded that the officer acted appropriately in the particular situation. A complaint also will be labeled unfounded if there is a lack of evi- dence. Out of 17 complaints received by in 2007 and 2008, 13 were classi- fied as unfounded. A complaint is only labeled founded when it is determined an action a person is complaining about did take place and that the officer did not follow protocol or engage in proper conduct. Depending on the incident, DPS Executive Director Ken Magee will determine any final discipline orcor- rective action. Brown said an officer will typically attend counseling, but that it's possible for an officer to be suspended or terminated. . According to the February 2009 Commission on Accredita- tion for Law Enforcement Agen- cies (CALEA) report - a document obtained by the Daily through a Freedom of Information Act request - one DPS officer was sus- pended and one was terminated in 2008 while five officers were sus- pended in 2007. Once the investigation of a com- plaint is completed, the person who brought the complaint receives a written response about the out- come from the investigating lieu- tenant officer. If the complainant has further concerns, he or she can appeal to Magee, who is informed of any complaint filed with the department and is updated on its investigation. While the DPS Oversight Com- mittee's main role is to act as a check on the campus police, it does not have any direct involvement in dealing with complaints filed with DPS. Instead, the committee HEALTH CARE From Page 1A October, College Democrats has teamed with Organizing For America - the grassroots con- tinuation of President Barack Obama's campaign - to hold phone banks where they have called more than 6,000 Demo- cratic supporters, encouraging them to contact local legislators to lobby in support of health care reform. College Democrats also holds Diag Days to urge students to make phone calls to local leg- islators to support health care reform. By encouraging University students to contact legislators, Samuel Marvin, chair of the University's chapter of College Democrats, said he hopes to get young voices heard in the health care debate. "We know that a lot of people voted in 2008. They voted for Obama, they voted for Demo- cratic senators and they voted for Democraticcongressmenbecause health care is an issue, and it's something people want," Mar- vin said. "We want to be as big a part of that as possible, so we can reallyget the student perspective as something that's talked about and something that's respected in the debate." The College Democrats have also worked closely with United States Congressman John Dingell (D-Mich.), the sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives, who has been a strong advocate of health care reform during his 54-year career in Congress. In an e-mail interview with The Michigan Daily yesterday, Dingell wrote that the best way for students to get involved in health care reform is simply to start speaking up. "The message is really the same for everyone - make your- self heard," Dingell wrote. "It could be as simple as sharing your thoughts around the dinner table when you go home, but the important thing is to keep talk- receives a list of complaints at one meeting each year. Brown said if a complaint of "substantive nature" is presented, DPS makes sure the committee hears about it before the annual report. But besides these infre- quent instances, Brown said the department doesn't contact the committee. "We don't pick up the phone and tell the oversight committee when somebody has made a complaint that they were thrown out of a foot- ball game, and then we've discov- ered in the investigation that yeah, they were thrown out because they were drunk and disorderly," Brown said. "We don't take up the com- mittee's time to go back that day to say 'oh, this was one of those com- plaints."' Brown said given the work DPS does, it's impressive that they receive so few complaints each year. "We have very few complaints yet we're dealing with difficult people all the time and difficult situations all the time," she said. She cited the CALEA assessment report DPS officially received in August, which made DPS the 13th out of about 600 police agencies in the state to be accredited. DPS was also the first law enforcement agency from the Big Ten confer- ence to receive accreditation by the commission. Brown said DPS excelled in han- dling citizen complaints and inter- nal affairs investigations - one of the categories the report evalu- ated. The report listed that DPS received 12 citizen complaints in 2008,11 in 2007 and 13 in 2006 and concluded that DPS appropriately managed the complaints. "The agency is keenly aware that complaints against the agency or employees are to be taken serious- ly," the report stated. "The agency provides the opportunity to file the complaint online, in person, or in writing. Persons who wish to file a complaint can do so anonymously." Brown said DPS was happy with the overall results from the assess- ment. "We're pretty proud of it, but it also says to our campus community I think that, 'yes, indeed, we're one of the best there is in the country,"' Brown said. Though DPS receives less than 15 complaints each year, police agencies at other colleges in the state of Michigan, receive far fewer complaints than DPS. Fred Harris, associate director of the Central Michigan Univer- sity Police Department, said the department has received either zero or one complaints each year. Greg O'Dell, police chief of Eastern Michigan UniversityPolice Depart- ment, said the department receives between zero and five complaints each ye Willi gan St commit receive five yea Mage how m pus pol an annu pare D schools How complai "very m "(Th er servi somebo he was or som oppose be cons: or a use Hea far mor plaints. "On week, I compli our em in gener Whil name,g complai differ p handles The refers t es" bera states t "shall r anes b safety o departm The caused said th tally re persona sos. "I'm: applies plaint... has a gr Thou plaints matter, whichI citizen the com DPS inv by the tee afte pleted. with th grievan up on t adminis On a mittee each ye Slott cer who Oversig grievan ar. the board - said he has received sam Terrell, chair of Michi- about five grievance reports from ate University's oversight the oversight committee during the tee, said the body has last six years. d one complaint in the last "One of the purposes of the com- rs. mittee isnto make sure thatthe most me said he was not aware seniorleveloftheUniversityis fully any complaints other cam- aware and accountable for taking ice departments receive on into account the recommendations al basis and could not com- and taking appropriate actions to PS's performance to other correct any potential problems," Slottow said in a recent interview ever, he said the majority of with The Michigan Daily. ints submitted to DPS are The reports given to Slottow inor." typically describe the grievance, ey're) almost more custom- analyze the facts and include rec- ce related such as the way ommendations on how to fix the dy spoke to somebody - if situation. rude and used profanity However, Slottow said he has ething of that nature - as never received any reports recom- d to something that would mending major policy changes. idered a violation of the law "In each one of those, they basi- of force," Magee said. cally said either the grievance added that DPS receives was determined to be unfounded e compliments than com- or there was some minor activity or change that occurred that has the average of once every already beentaken care ofbased on get a letter from a citizen their discussion with DPS," Slot- menting our staff or one of tow said. ployees or the department Though the grievance has al," Magee said. already been handled by the time it reaches his desk, Slottow said he OPTING TO FILE reads the report to see if there is A GRIEVANCE anything more the University can do, which, he said, there usually e they are given a different isn't. rievances do notdiffer from "There have not been recom- nts in content, instead they mendations for me to take onbehalf rocedurally in which body the University," he said. them. But he said that could change DPS Oversight Committee in the future, which is why he is o complaints as "grievanc- responsible for receiving the com- ause Public Act 120 of 1990 mittee's reports. sat the oversight committee Though some grievances make eceive and address griev- it to Slottow's office, at other uni- y persons against the public versities in the state, there is some 'fficers or the public safety variation in what reaches the desks sent of the institution." of top officials. separate terminology has At EMU, the president receives some confusion. Brown all complaints as soon as they are e word "grievance" typi- filed, while the vice president of fers to employees who have CMU is advised of all complaints. l issues with their supervi- At MSU, however, the oversight committee does not send a report not quite sure that the term to a university executive. so much to a citizen com- Over the last few months, details I don't know how a citizen reported in the Daily have, accord- ievance," Brown said. ing to several independent lawyers, gh grievances and com- called into question whether the can have the same subject student, faculty and staff represen- they differ completely in tatives on the committee have been body reviews them. If a elected in compliance with a 1990 files a complaint with DPS, state statute that gave the Univer- plaint will be reviewed by sity the right to create a campus 'estigators and looked over police force. In doing so, the statute DPS Oversight Commit- also mandated the creation of an r the investigation is com- oversight committee. If a citizen files a grievance Independent lawyers stated in a e oversight committee, the Nov. 16 Daily article that the elec- ce has the potential to end tions for each respective party he desk of a top University appear to violate state law because trator. the students, faculty and staff of verage, the oversight coin- the University do not elect the rep- reviews two grievances resentatives. ar. The Michigan Student Assembly ow - the executive offi- has since altered its election meth- is responsible for the DPS od for student representatives to ht Committee and handling the oversight board to fall more in ce recommendations from line with the state statute. RESTAURANT From Page 1A taurants. "The June event exceeded our expectations, and the January (event) was bigger and better than June," Thomson said. Restaurant Week is organized by the Main Street Area Asso- ciation, a non-profit organiza- tion that works to attract people to downtown Ann Arbor. Res- taurant Week, which the MSAA plans to make a biannual event, is purposely scheduled during traditionally slow times for Ann Arbor businesses, Thomson said. "January, for downtown, is a slow time," Thomson said. "(The goal of Restaurant Week is) just to bring people downtown, give downtown a little boost and give people the chance to eat a little something special and afford- able." Despite the usually lighttraffic this time of year, downtown res- taurants were packed last week, according to Thomson. "I don't know if you've ever had lunch in downtown Ann Arbor here in the week, but it's typically not very busy," Thomson said. "I just love seeing crowds - crowds in restaurants at lunch. It's won- derful!" Thomson said the event was originally inspired by a trip by local business owners James and Kathy Macdonald to Cali- fornia, where they attended San Francisco's Restaurant Week. At the time, they owned Bella Ciao, a restaurant on West Liberty Street, and thought that copying the event could draw attention to Ann Arbor's diverse cuisine. Brandon Johns, owner of Ann Arbor restaurant Grange Kitchen & Bar, which opened last August, said he did not hesitate to partici- pate in Restaurant Week. "It's a good way to bring busi- ness in January, simple as that," Johns said. "We haven't been able to take a reservation for four days." On its regular menu, Grange Kitchen & Bar's main courses start at $21, but for restaurant week they offered select menu items at a discount based on vari- ety and cost. "We want to be cost-effec- tive as well, because it is such a deeply discounted dinner for us," Johns said. Grange's Restaurant Week dinner offered a choice of soup or salad, a main dish of pan roasted chicken, grilled lake trout or cider braised beef, and a choice of dessert - all for $25. Binod Dhakal, manager at Shalimar Restaurant, said that in addition to bringing in new customers, Restaurant Week can also be a good time to test potential new items on its menu, which offers traditional Indian dishes. "We are introducing new items so we can get feedback to refer- ence so we can put those items on our menu," Dhakal said. Hope Mleczko, manager of vegetarian restaurant Seva on East Liberty Street, said Restau- rant Week can be a great chance to reach new patrons. "We did see a lot of regulars as well, but in addition to them there are alot of other people - a lot of new faces," Mleckzko said. LEIDY From Page 1A all of its products are sold before the lease on the shop's space ends on Feb. 28. "A lot of our regular customers know that the store is closing," Peter Leidy said. "Our hope is that it continues to be busy and that most, if not all, of the mer- chandise that we still have will be gone hopefully sooner than the end of February." Because of the store's fam- ily atmosphere, the shop and its owners have developed relation- ships with customers and the Ann Arbor community through- out its existence. "Our family has relationships with hundreds - if not thousands - of people," Peter Leidy said. "It's a sad time of saying good- bye to the John Leidy Shop, but it's also years and years of great friendships and memories." The store has suffered from the changing gift market in which customers shop for gifts at large chain stores online instead of at smaller, local shops. Peter Leidy said the family has tried to strike a balance between maintaining the store's identity while keep- ing up with customers' changing tastes. "There are certain lines of crystal and china that the store has been carrying since almost day one," he said. "There is other stuff that goes with how people's tastes have changed over the years. The tricky thing is you can only change so much before the whole identity of the store changes." For both loyal customers and the occasional shopper, the shop has been known to have a variety of gifts that can suit almost any person's needs. In 1959, the shop not only occupied one storefront next to the Michigan Theater but also another on the other side. One shop sold China, while the other sold dinnerware. The second storefront closed in 2006, and the Leidy fam- ily consolidated the shop's goods into one space. The store has always been a family business, and upon John Leidy's death in 1993, his wife and children continued to run the store. Four of the five Leidy children have other careers, but Peter Leidy said his sister Liz will be the most impacted by the store's closure because she is most actively involved in the day-to- day business operations. "She's not really thinking a whole lot about that because there is a whole lot of energy with the store right now," Peter Leidy said. All the merchandise in the store is on sale. For now, the fam- ily is focusing on selling as much of it as possible before the lease runs out. As of now, there are no defi- nite plans for the space the shop currently occupies. However, the landlord has been talking to potential new tenants, according to Peter Leidy. While the Leidy family is sad to say good-bye to the shop, Peter Leidy said the family takes com- fort in having 58 years of memo- ries they can reflect on. "It's a bittersweet thing and not all doom and gloom but years of joyful memories," he said. ing." Marvin said he hopes to get students involved because they are one of the groups that would be most affected by the passage of health care reform. The bill would allow students to have continued coverage under their parents' health insurance plan until age 27. "That's a big hurdle for a lot of people when they graduate because if they don't have a job with good benefits, they're out of health insurance," Marvin said. Despite the optimism among College Democrats and other Democrats across the nation regarding health care reform, the Republicans gained a cru- cial victory with the election of Republican Scott Brown as Mas- sachusetts senator last Tuesday - a win many officials speculate could put the passing of a health care reform bill in jeopardy, at least in the near future. Charles Bogren, co-chair of the University's chapter of Col- lege Republicans, said the vic- tory proves the nation is unhappy with current health care reform efforts and is ready for a change, which is why his group is work- ing to mobilize student opposi- tion to reform. Bogren added that he has seen an increase in College Republican membership this year, which he attributes to students' opposition to Obama's work as president. "We've seen a lot more mem- bers this year that have joined because of what the Obama administration has been doing so far, and it's great to see this cam- paign and this special election show that a lot of people do agree with us," Bogren said. Last Thursday, College Repub- lieans invited physician and University alum Robert Steele to speak about his concerns of how the health care reform bill would negatively affect the state of Michigan. Steele has been involved in various health care debates over the years and has been a member of The Heritage Foundation - a conservative think tank that does research and analysis of public policy issues - for more than 20 years. With his background in the medical industry and concern for the current state of health care reform in the United States, Steele is considering running against Dingell in the 2010 elec- tion. At the College Republicans meeting, he said his idea to run for Congress stems from his con- cern for future generations, cit- ing his four children and nieces and nephews, who are facing a country with an uncertain and debt-ridden future. "As I look out at the crazy spending that's going on right now, really the opportunities for (younger generations) are basi- cally disappearing with every year of the exponential growth of the budget and the deficit and how the math is turning against the next generation," Steele said. "So that's why I wanted to get involved." HUED,,0 Think you know where to find the Best Dessert? Do you have the Best Pick-up Line? Is your landlord the Best? Cast your vote in the Michigan Daily's Annual Readership Survey Poll! Vtefer the Best of Ann Arbor Voting extended to January 29th! Go to: http://www.michigandailycom/best-2010 to cast your vote today.