Tulsa County Sheriff shooting of Eric Harris

[Conan71]

This is the article cynical is referring to.  Might be time for Glanz and Albin to consider retirement.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/sources-supervisors-told-to-falsify-reserve-deputy-s-training-records/article_a6330f10-a9fb-51e3-ab5e-4d97b03c6c04.html

Sources: Supervisors told to falsify reserve deputy's training records

Related: Sheriff's Office confirms names of deputies in video, says they didn't hear gunshot

Related: Protest rally draws crowd, ends at Tulsa County sheriff's doorstep

Related: Tulsa, Sheriff's Office now facing national spotlight in wake of officer-involved killings

Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office were ordered to falsify a reserve deputy's training records, giving him credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received, sources told the Tulsa World.

At least three of reserve deputy Robert Bates' supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.

Bates, 73, is accused of second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2.

The sources' claims are corroborated by records, including a statement by Bates after the shooting, that he was certified as an advanced reserve deputy in 2007.

An attorney for Harris' family also raised questions about the authenticity of Bates' training records.
Additionally, Sheriff Stanley Glanz told a Tulsa radio station this week that Bates had been certified to use three weapons, including a revolver he fired at Harris. However, Glanz said the Sheriff's Office has not been able to find the paperwork on those certifications.
The sheriff's deputy that certified Bates has moved on to work for the Secret Service, Glanz said during the radio interview.

"We can't find the records that she supposedly turned in," Glanz said. "So we are going to talk to her to find out if for sure he's been qualified with those (weapons)."

Undersheriff Tim Albin was unavailable for comment Wednesday but in an earlier interview, Albin said he was unaware of any concerns expressed by supervisors about Bates' training.

The Sheriff's Office has released a summary listing training courses Bates had been given credit for but have not released documents showing which supervisors signed off on that training.

He rejected claims that Bates' training records were falsified and that supervisors who refused to do so were transferred to less desirable assignments.

"The training record speaks for itself. I have absolutely no knowledge of what you are talking about," Albin said. "There aren't any secrets in law enforcement. Zero. Those types of issues would have come up."

During a press conference Friday, Capt. Bill McKelvey and Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark, a consultant hired by the county, also said they were unaware of concerns about Bates' training.
The World has requested records showing which supervisors signed off on Bates' training. An attorney for the Sheriff's Office declined to provide them, saying the matter is under investigation.
Bates, a wealthy Tulsa insurance executive, turned himself in Tuesday after being charged on Monday in Harris' death. He is free on $25,000 bond.

Harris was shot and killed during an undercover operation the Sheriff's Violent Crimes Task Force was conducting. Harris, according to the sheriff's office, had previously sold methamphetamine to undercover deputies and was in the act of selling them a stolen gun.

As deputies moved in to make the arrest, Harris bolted from the truck and ran, pursued by deputies until they brought him to the ground. Bates shot Harris while he was on the ground and immediately said, "Oh, I shot him! I'm sorry."

The Sheriff's Office has said Bates is typically in a support role assisting the task force. He told investigators he meant to stun Harris with a Taser but accidentally shot him with a handgun instead.

Bates was classified by the Sheriff's Office as an "advanced reserve." That means Bates would have had to complete 480 hours of the "Field Training Officer," or FTO, program to maintain that classification.

Dan Smolen, who represents Harris' family, said Wednesday that he believes Bates' field training records were falsified and that they no longer exist.

The Sheriff's Office previously said Bates had joined the reserve deputy force in 2008. However, Bates, in a statement he gave the Sheriff's Office following Harris' shooting, said he became an advanced reserve deputy in 2007.

The cause of that discrepancy is unclear.

In Bates' seven-page statement to Tulsa County sheriff's investigators, obtained by the World on Wednesday, the reserve deputy states he previously attended a five-day homicide investigation school in Dallas and received "active shooter response training" by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona.

Bates said in the statement that he had been involved in "at least 100 other" assignments, such as the undercover operation planned on April 2.

In that statement, Bates said he contacted a task force member on April 1 to ask if there was a "pending operation" he could assist with.

The task force member informed Bates of the plan to have an undercover officer buy a gun from Harris the following day.

Officials said Harris could have faced up to life in prison for selling the firearm because he had prior felony convictions.

During a briefing hours before the shooting, Bates said he was informed that Harris was "a bad son of a b----" who had gang affiliations.

Deputies in attendance were told Harris was known to carry a gun and to consider him armed and dangerous.

During a press conference last week, a consultant hired by the Sheriff's Office pointed to several scenes from the recorded video of Harris' shooting.

The consultant said the still images from the video showed why pursuing deputies would be concerned that Harris had a gun in his pants as he fled.

Bates mentioned this in his statement as well, noting he believed that Harris was running "in an unusual way," touching his right hand to his waistband.

It was later determined that Harris did not have a gun on his body when he was tackled and shot. The video shows his arms flailing as he runs.

Undersheriff Tim Albin has said the video cuts off after Harris was shot because the camera battery died. The video was filmed on a "sunglasses cam" purchased by Bates for the task force.

Bates was Glanz's 2012 re-election campaign manager and also was named reserve deputy of the year in 2011.

He has purchased five automobiles for the task force. Bates and other task force members drive the vehicles, which the Sheriff's Office equipped with lights and other police equipment.

In his statement, Bates said he was unsure if the pursuing deputy would catch the fleeing Harris. So Bates said he grabbed his pepper-ball launcher, a "less lethal" device meant to incapacitate much in the same way as pepper spray.
Bates said as he approached the scuffle, he thought he noticed Harris again reaching for his waistband. At this point, while two additional deputies were subduing Harris, Bates said he saw a "very brief opening" in which he could hit Harris with a Taser.
Bates noted "thinking I have to deploy it rapidly, as I still thought there was a strong possibility Harris had a gun on him."

At that point, as is evident in the video, Bates stated "Taser! Taser!" then fired one shot, striking Harris below the right arm.

Bates stated in his account that the time from which Harris was tackled by one deputy to the time Bates fired the fatal shot was "only about 5 to 10 seconds."Related: Reserve deputy charged with manslaughter turns himself in at Tulsa Jail{

Related: Reserve deputy bought cars, equipment for undercover unit{

WATCH: Raw Video: Eric Courtney Harris is shot after a pursuit by Tulsa County deputies

WATCH: Raw video: After an undercover gun buy, a sheriff's deputy kills the suspect.

Related: Sheriff Stanley Glanz calls reserve deputy a longtime friend who made an error


Dylan Goforth 918-581-8451

ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com

[Hoss]

This is the article cynical is referring to.  Might be time for Glanz and Albin to consider retirement.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/sources-supervisors-told-to-falsify-reserve-deputy-s-training-records/article_a6330f10-a9fb-51e3-ab5e-4d97b03c6c04.html

Wow.  Unbeebable.

[cannon_fodder]

Might be time to consider leaving the country to avoid prison time. If the allegations are true, it is a heinous abuse of authority, probably a felony (forging police records), and possibly felony murder (commission of a felony leading to the death of a person). You pay me enough money, I forge documents making you a deputy and clear anyone out of the way who objects.

Wow. National embarassent. Millions pissed away on lawsuits. Trust in law enforcement shattered.

Frikken disaster, and that's ignoring the fact that our government killed someone by mistake.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

In Bates' seven-page statement to Tulsa County sheriff's investigators, obtained by the World on Wednesday, the reserve deputy states he previously attended a five-day homicide investigation school in Dallas and received "active shooter response training" by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona.

Wonder how much money he contributed to Sheriff Joe's pockets for certifications?

[patric]

Wonder how much money he contributed to Sheriff Joe's pockets for certifications?

Hey, they go thru a lot of diesel.




And while reading about Tulsa on Al Jazeera and Business Insider Australia is interresting, nothing says "We made it to the Big Time" like The Daily Show:  

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/o415ih/seriously--guys--what-are-we-doing-here-  

[AquaMan]

Yeah, says something when any of our training comes from that outfit.

From the start I felt it wasn't about age or race. It has been about poor training, leadership and politics. The guy made a mistake but the system he worked in enabled that mistake.

Kudos to the World for finally stepping up against a powerful and politically connected force. We shouldn't wait for the civil suit to get rid of these guys and we should immediately start to look at the history of their arrests.

Amazing to me how many people are willing to swallow the mis-information put out about this case by the deputies because it fits their political viewpoints. Specifically any moron who says, "he shouldn't have run" and "he never heard the gun shot".

[heironymouspasparagus]

Might be time to consider leaving the country to avoid prison time. If the allegations are true, it is a heinous abuse of authority, probably a felony (forging police records), and possibly felony murder (commission of a felony leading to the death of a person). You pay me enough money, I forge documents making you a deputy and clear anyone out of the way who objects.

Wow. National embarassent. Millions pissed away on lawsuits. Trust in law enforcement shattered.

Frikken disaster, and that's ignoring the fact that our government killed someone by mistake.

Just another day in Oklahoma....


<Insert picture here> of the state outline and the phrase, "0 days without national embarrassment; Keep up the good work!"

[cannon_fodder]

This just keeps getting more fun! How can you start off by saying a guy has hundreds of hours of training and is 100% qualified, and a week later say you have no records to support your statement and maybe you waived the required training and qualifications? They were going to find those records! Until they were accused of falsifying records, then they don't need to find them because they were waived. This does not look good...


THEN
We looked into it and everything is fine...
- Bates received hundreds of hours of training and was totally qualified
- he trained with the Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy
- he trained with the National Tactical Officer's association
- he has specialized training in homicide, meth lab, and other
- everything in the program is fine
- there were no policy violations
... so there's nothing to see here.


LATER
Maybe everything isn't fine, but no big deal...
- We can't actually find his training records, but he totally was trained and qualified its just that we don't actually keep a record of Deputies training, they keep it themselves and we take their word for it
- We may want to review this program a little
- There may have been a couple policy violations, like Bates killed the guy with a gun he shouldn't have been carrying
...but its no big deal.


NOW
We totally didn't do anything wrong and never falsified anything...
- Bates did not train with the Maricopa County Sheriff's office
- Bates did not train with the National Tactical Officer's Association
- Bates may not have been properly trained, but that's OK, because we can waive the training requirement if we want to
... so we're good now, right?

[heironymouspasparagus]

I think there is a PhD dissertation here studying the pathology that is the politics and sociology of Oklahoma.

[patric]

From the start I felt it wasn't about age or race. It has been about poor training, leadership and politics. The guy made a mistake but the system he worked in enabled that mistake.

Kudos to the World for finally stepping up against a powerful and politically connected force. We shouldn't wait for the civil suit to get rid of these guys and we should immediately start to look at the history of their arrests.

Amazing to me how many people are willing to swallow the mis-information put out about this case by the deputies because it fits their political viewpoints. Specifically any moron who says, "he shouldn't have run" and "he never heard the gun shot".

An interesting sidebar about the former deputy TCSO says blew the whistle on them:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/16/tulsa-sheriff-hit-with-pro-wrestler-suit.html

[AquaMan]

This is like stories from True Detective. Ain't no tellin' what the truth really is cause everyone's lying.

[Townsend]

Tulsa County Volunteer Deputy Disputes Claim He Lacked Training

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/tulsa-county-volunteer-deputy-disputes-claim-he-lacked-training

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A 73-year-old Oklahoma volunteer deputy charged in the fatal shooting of a suspect in Tulsa has countered criticism of his qualifications.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the April 2 shooting, Robert Bates told NBC's "Today" show that characterizations of himself as a wealthy donor paying to join the force are "unbelievably unfair."

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office volunteer also disputed anonymously sourced comments in the Tulsa World newspaper that sheriff's office supervisors were ordered to falsify his training records. He says he is property certified.

Video released by the sheriff's office shows Eric Harris running and deputies restraining him after an undercover gun deal. Bates says he shot the 44-year-old suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun.

The Tulsa district attorney has charged Bates with second-degree manslaughter.

[Hoss]

Tulsa County Volunteer Deputy Disputes Claim He Lacked Training

http://publicradiotulsa.org/post/tulsa-county-volunteer-deputy-disputes-claim-he-lacked-training

Well, duh!  Of course he disputes it!

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Caught part of the interview from the Today Show on CNN this evening, snd now he is saying that he was just in the area and happend to see this going on from a Sinclair station down the street and decided to help? Did I hear this correctly.

EDIT:Never mind, heard the full interview and misunderstood from the brief sound byte played.

[Jammie]

Interesting story and posts!

Swake, I couldn't agree with you more about the officer who made the nasty comment to Mr. Harris when he said he couldn't breathe. He needs to be removed from the force. Protect and serve? Yeah, right. With his attitude, I'd hate to need his help in any situation.

Canon, I like your comment that included the erosion of rights by starting with the perceived, "Little people."  It's very true.

I'm still absorbing many of the comments, but wanted to say I don't agree that this is making OK look backward. I watched the CNN interview with the guy and gal from the TW and they represented themselves very well, were careful to not make comments on questions they weren't sure the answer to, etc. They were quite impressive.

I also watched the interview with Mr. Harris' brother and he was well spoken, forgiving, but made it clear he still had questions and was hoping for justice. An atheist wouldn't be impressed with his interview, but that would be their problem and that's another subject. He was also impressive! I agree with him that it'd be interesting to know exactly when Mr. Bates realized that the taser instead of gun mistakes have happened.

Mr. Bates interview was interesting and I'm still trying to figure out if he's sorry he took this man's life or if he's sorry for the situation he's now in. He seemed sincere and he did more then most have who are in his position. His mistake of saying, "This is the second worst thing that's happened to me", followed by, "The first...." has been brought up by the news media. It does show that there is a touch of narcissism involved in this man. At least he did apologize to the family, which again, is more then most do. "Good ole boy network" did pop into my mind with his whole situation and I'll bet I'm not the only one who had that thought.

As far as the news media making this about race, I haven't noticed that at all. It just seems confusing that he'd mistake a taser, which was in his upper left pocket, for a gun, which was on his right hip, even though it's supposedly happened at least ten times. It's my understanding that he didn't know that Mr. Harris was a repeat felon at the time of the shooting and it also looked like the other officers had things under control so his actions seemed unnecessary. Just some thoughts.