IRVINE : UCI Denies Report of Police Shakeup

UC Irvine officials Wednesday denied a campus newspaper report that the university police chief has been relieved of responsibility for day-to-day police operations.

Police Chief Michael Michell has been temporarily reassigned to draft a campus emergency preparedness plan, and Assistant Police Chief Dennis Powers has been brought over from UCI Medical Center in Orange to run daily operations, said C. Michael Webster, UCI’s associate vice chancellor for business and administration.

Webster denied a report in last week’s edition of the New University student newspaper that Michell had been reassigned because of an inability to control his officers and staff.

“The chief has not been relieved of his duties,” Webster said. “He is working on an emergency preparedness plan.

“Now, some people may interpret that as being kicked upstairs, but as his boss I can tell you that is not the case.”

When the emergency plan is completed, Michell “will still be the chief of police, as far as I know,” Webster said.

Michell, who was out of town this week, could not be reached for comment. Powers also could not be reached Wednesday.

According to the New University article, the leadership change followed a study of the police earlier this year by the NAPA Group, a San Francisco-area management consulting firm.

The article reported that the consultants had examined police operations at the request of UCI officials and determined that a small group of disgruntled officers had created problems within the department and had undermined Michell’s authority.

Webster confirmed that the NAPA Group reviewed UCI’s 63-employee department at a cost of $22,000 for the campus police branch and $9,600 for the medical center branch. But he declined to discuss the group’s findings or recommendations.

“I’m not going to discuss that . . . because it has to do with personnel issues in the department,” Webster said.

University spokeswoman Karen Newell Young said the decision to bring in the NAPA Group was made jointly by Webster and Michell.

“The focus of the investigation was how to run the department better, how to improve its efficiency and overall issues on how to have the best police department,” Young said. “Naturally, within that scope, there will be personnel issues that the university cannot comment on.”

But a campus police officer who declined to give his name said the NAPA Group was brought in during the spring because of serious morale problems, grievances and allegations of discrimination.

The officer said many employees think that Michell favored certain friends and that the department was effectively divided between an “A team” and a “B team.”

The officer also expressed concern that proper investigatory procedures were not always followed on complaints and that reports of sexual battery and assault involving students were often handled administratively instead of criminally.

After a five-month investigation, the officer said, the NAPA Group consultants “suggested a change in leadership and that this A-team, B-team business be formally disbanded. . . . They said essentially that if the chief couldn’t win the credibility of his troops, then he shouldn’t be in office.”

Asked whether the NAPA Group study was prompted by complaints of discrimination and morale problems, UCI’s Webster said, “I’m not going to discuss that.”

He also refused to respond to reports that the consultants recommended a leadership change or questioned the chief’s credibility.