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Discredited Tulsa Volunteer Sheriff's Deputy Program Revived
Source: Associated Press
Discredited Tulsa Volunteer Sheriff's Deputy Program Revived
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS TULSA, Okla. — Jul 30, 2016, 10:43 AM ET
An Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy program shut down after a member fatally shot an unarmed black man is back in business with tougher requirements, new Tulsa sheriff Vic Regalado said, although every one of the new reserves was in the old force that was riddled with cronyism and all but three are white in a city with fraught race relations.
The reserve program was shuttered at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office after 74-year-old volunteer Robert Bates said he mistakenly reached for his gun instead of a Taser and fatally shot Eric Harris during an illegal gun sales sting in April 2015. It quickly emerged that Bates was in no physical condition to be a reserve deputy, hadn't been properly trained, was friends with then-Sheriff Stanley Glanz and appeared to leverage that relationship and his personal wealth as an insurance executive to wield considerable influence within the agency. Bates donated thousands of dollars in cash, cars and equipment, leading some critics to accuse him — as well as other wealthy reserve deputies — of "buying a badge."
Glanz resigned after being indicted in part because of the Harris shooting, and a scathing report by an outside consultant in February recommended that the volunteer program be terminated and completely rebuilt. The report said many volunteers "feel they are exempt from or do not have to follow various policies because of who they are or who they are friends with in the agency."
But Regalado, elected on a promise to reform the agency, opted not to shut it down completely, and recently announced it would be revived as a leaner version of its discredited predecessor.
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By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS TULSA, Okla. — Jul 30, 2016, 10:43 AM ET
An Oklahoma volunteer sheriff's deputy program shut down after a member fatally shot an unarmed black man is back in business with tougher requirements, new Tulsa sheriff Vic Regalado said, although every one of the new reserves was in the old force that was riddled with cronyism and all but three are white in a city with fraught race relations.
The reserve program was shuttered at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office after 74-year-old volunteer Robert Bates said he mistakenly reached for his gun instead of a Taser and fatally shot Eric Harris during an illegal gun sales sting in April 2015. It quickly emerged that Bates was in no physical condition to be a reserve deputy, hadn't been properly trained, was friends with then-Sheriff Stanley Glanz and appeared to leverage that relationship and his personal wealth as an insurance executive to wield considerable influence within the agency. Bates donated thousands of dollars in cash, cars and equipment, leading some critics to accuse him — as well as other wealthy reserve deputies — of "buying a badge."
Glanz resigned after being indicted in part because of the Harris shooting, and a scathing report by an outside consultant in February recommended that the volunteer program be terminated and completely rebuilt. The report said many volunteers "feel they are exempt from or do not have to follow various policies because of who they are or who they are friends with in the agency."
But Regalado, elected on a promise to reform the agency, opted not to shut it down completely, and recently announced it would be revived as a leaner version of its discredited predecessor.
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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/discredited-tulsa-volunteer-sheriffs-deputy-program-revived-41014219
