Lead UM Detective on Anderson Case Demoted
University of Michigan police Detective Mark West — whose investigations played a key role in exposing decades of alleged sexual abuse by university doctor Robert Anderson — is being reassigned as a road patrol officer and having his pay cut, The Detroit News has learned.
West said he viewed the change as a demotion since he will lose 3% of his $79,000 salary, or about $2,370. He said he was informed of the change last week.
West said he knew it was a rotating position when he took the job about six years ago but said generally detectives haven't been rotated. At least two detectives in the department have held the rank longer than him, he noted, and he is aware of just one detective who went back to road patrol. The others retired or were promoted, he said.
The 51-year-old has 27 years with the department.
Insinuating punishment?
Not any other way to look at it. With those facts about the other detectives / past practice / that he wouldn't be the one to be rotated if it were truly just a rotation -- damn this looks bad as hell.
I just read this and it pissed me off.
This is CLEAR retaliation. Any seasoned professional familiar with the corporate world knows this is retaliation disguised as reassignment (re: demotion).
Even at a superficial level, the optics of this is terrible.
Some douchebags associated with UMich are brazenly playing some very stupid games and, alarmingly, don't care. Instead of taking the chance to start clean/fresh, they're interested in fooling around.
I grow increasingly disillusioned with my alma mater.
Even if you suspect this might be a 'normal' rotation, the failure to look at the optics is a fail on it's own. Of all detectives to rotate, this is not the one. Especially not right now. WTF??
Retaliation or as a result of poor job performance? Demotions for poor job performance are not proper in State positions? Firing not an option?
The circumstances are peculiar.
When such retaliatory actions are taken in the corporate world, HR always relies on "plausible deniability".
For any young adults graduating from Michigan and entering the corporate workforce (because I know some read this blog), keep the following in mind: HR is NOT your friend. HR is there to protect the company/institution/executive management *especially* at your expense. Unless you are a rainmaker, the firm sees you as replaceable and, therefore, easily expendable in its grand scheme. Trying to do the right/ethical/morally correct thing will often be met with resistance and insidious vindictiveness.
What are they retaliating for and who is retaliating? The guy is doing his job right and doing it well yes?
Pretty brazenly dumb move if your are pissed at the discovery of truth.
The world has no shortage of people who would stop at nothing to avoid the discovery of truth.
Some people are just vindictive. Someone told him to do or not do something but he didn't follow their direction and this is what happens. On the other hand, he may be sleeping really well given he can live with himself.
As I read recently HR = humans as resources not resources for humans
It's so stupid and ham-handed that I wonder if there isn't still more to the story. Schlissel didn't get to be president of a top-five public institution by playing it that openly or guilelessly. Sometimes things really are what they appear, but I will wait to condemn for longer than a tweet.
Schlissel didn't get to be president of a top-five public institution by playing it that openly or guilelessly.
I would ordinarily agree but this is the same yutz who - as a matter of public record - asked another official if he could skirt FOIA obligations by deleting e-mails
Wtf?!?!?
I really want to know who's running UM's PR department? We have some of the worst responses, all the time, to every conflict. It's astonishing
I think some people within the University took "the leaders and the best" to mean they can do whatever they want with zero repercussions.
When reached for comment, Chief Barbrady claimed there was "nothing to see here".
They rotate detectives all the time......
Am I missing something here? Kind of seems to me like this is trying to make something out of nothing.
The article alludes to 4 people: 2 that did return to road patrol and 2 that did not. Of those that did not return, 1 retired and 1 was promoted.
Maybe this is SOP. But moving from detective work (and playing a key role in this story) to road patrol has to feel like retaliation/a demotion, even if there weren't a pay cut, which there also is here.
The pay cut has to make it feel a bit personal. Besides, it's $46 a week. Paying that is not going to make or break the U-M police department, I would think.
So my "leaders and best" alma mater is now circling the wagons to punish the guy who investigated a longtime pervert.
Maybe.
Or maybe this was just a normal reassignment. Or maybe their were other issues with his employment outside of the investigation that caused this to happen. None of us has a clue if this was retaliation, business as usual or something else entirely. None of us.
But what we all know is that it will certainly LOOK like retaliation, especially when the officer himself is front and center calling attention to it in the media. If this isnt retaliation then it's evidence that whoever is in charge of media relations is a complete idiot and should be fired.
If not retaliation then our University should've been out in front of this saying exactly why this was happening before he did. If it was retaliation then fuck them all.
Those who stay…go back to road patrol.
Those who stay…go back to road patrol.
This is a trashy article typical of modern journalism. They do little research and hint at the most sensational possibility. Getting data andchecking several other sources takes time and effort. Instead they push out an article that hints at something bad happening to generate clicks.
Maybe this was retaliation or maybe UMPD really does consider Detective a temporary assignment. I have no idea from reading this weak article. I am guessing this guy had more than one case in six years and that there is some actual data on how many cases he closed, conviction rates, maybe feedback from others in the criminal justice system etc. I know it's not easy finding sources on personnel matters, but everything I have mentioned can be found. I'm sorry but having the subject of the article saying "I am only aware of..." as you're main (practically only) source is pathetic.
None of that should even matter right now, and you're doing the same lazy assuming that you're complaining about. The optics matter more.
Of course it should matter! On one hand, if his reassignment was in fact retaliation, it is a huge deal and there should be major repercussions. On the other hand, if his reassignment was in fact routine or the result of an overall lackluster performance level, then there is no story here. If the difference between those two scenarios is not significant to you, then I might as well be talking to a wall.
You say "The optics matter more." That is absurd. It is absolutely ludicrous to say that the appearance of wrong-doing matters more than actual wrong-doing.
I am not dismissing optics completely, but a PR gaffe is one thing and a crime of workplace retaliation to cover up sexual assault is on another fucking planet.
I can see why journalists today do what they do. It seems no one gives a shit about truth and journos are rewarded by being the first to get the simpletons fired up.
No, I actually agree with everything you said here. I guess I mis-read where you were going with it.
Agreed, less journalism and more juicy gossip assuming the worst.
Michigan is unfortunately in a position where anyone assuming the worst gets the public benefit of the doubt. It's easy to knock the lazy journalist in the red corner, but unfortunately over in that blue corner you're standing in front of is a giant organization with a longtime fuck-you attitude toward transparency that coddled a sex offender for decades. The university ought to be careful in these matters precisely because at this point they have laughably little credibility if you compared them to a gorram tabloid.
Sucks to be them, but the situation is pretty easy to avoid: Don't give longtime sex offenders institutional protection. But that's the crop they sowed, so they should probably take these "routine" rotations a little more seriously.
Well I guess this is better than somebody investigating the Clintons. /S
I can see moving the guy to another role, but taking money away from him? He's going to make that 3% back 1000x now. What a sad, sad look for Michigan (even if they had no direct influence)
Why bring politics and conspiracy theories into this?
It was a joke? I guess the /S doesnt matter?
I’m assuming that not everybody on here also uses Reddit, so the /s to indicate sarcasm probably gets lost on them.
No, the OP used a political figure from the wrong side of the isle as the focus of the sarcasm.
The /s wouldn't mattered.
No, I don't think that's it. It's just conspiracy theory BS where none is needed/warranted, and where it distracts from the topic at hand.
I would have had the same reaction if that guy picked on the other side.
You must be new here (but you're not).
Admittedly this looks bad. Who at the university has the kind of power -- and motive -- to do this (if, in fact, it's as bad as it looks)? How does that hierarchy work?
Even if this isn't punishment (and of course it is), it LOOKS as if it's punishment. Yet another mistake in the handling of the optics of the Anderson tragedy. Such a high-level University with one of the worst PR departments I have ever heard of. It's amazingly bad.
I think this is the kind of decision you make if you're completely ignoring the PR department.
Nailed it, HP -- this is a whole new level of Michigan Arrogance (tm).
Sounds like dude should've been given a promotion rather than a demotion. I can't believe the UMPD didn't consider the potential PR fallout by making this decision, even if it's standard procedure. Then again, these stories sometimes have a way of shaking out differently once more information is revealed.
Hold on. A UM road patrol officer makes more than most teachers?
WhatAreWeDoing.gif
(Note: I don't think he should make less. Teachers should make much, much more.)
Isnt this the exact salary Dwight from the office was dreaming of in his hell fantasy? Hmmm the plot thickens.
I was surprised by the salary as well.
and he could still probably get a significant raise managing a taco bell.
Definitely, some should but some should not. In fact, they should be let go. There are some great, effective teachers out there and some poor, ineffective teachers. There needs to be a way to reward good teachers and a way to get poor teachers into another profession. Too many kids are not receiving even the minimum education necessary to succeed. (And, yes, I agree that it is very hard to teach the many kids who haven't a decent home life. That needs to be a consideration in getting teachers with the necessary skills in the right positions.)
Dissolve the unions which protect ineffective teachers. That's the only "way" .
Let's assume a 100% devil's advocate scenario where the re-assignment is standard operating procedure that has nothing to do with Mark West's work on the Anderson case, and the press is in full-on witchhunt mode to make the University look bad, facts be damned.
EVEN IN THAT SCENARIO, the University should damn well know how the optics of that play out, and whatever the 'facts' are, they've needlessly given the press more ammunition to make them look bad. And that's 100% on the University, not anyone else.
There's an old saying that you shouldn't assume malice when stupidity would suffice. While I don't fully believe that (they're not mutually exclusive!), even if that's so, maybe let's not excuse stupidity either?
Absolutely horrible look by our alma mater here.