TCSO: Deputy shouldn't be charged because he confused his weapons (video)

Poke78 · Apr 10, 2015

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office has completed its investigation into a deadly shooting involving one of their deputies.

Eric Harris was shot and killed during an undercover operation by reserve Deputy Robert Bates.

Deputies were trying to arrest Harris as a part of an undercover gun buy.

The Sheriff's office previously said Bates thought he was grabbing his Taser instead of gun when he shot at Harris.

An independent reviewer hired by the sheriff's office says this type of confusion is common in law enforcement and is called slips and capture.

The sheriff's office highlighted previous cases where the slips and capture theory was used in the decision to not file charges.

Investigators turned over their files to the District Attorney's office earlier this afternoon.

No word yet on if prosecutors will file charges.

LINK W/VIDEO: http://www.ktul.com/story/28773844/live-4-pm-news-conference-on-deputy-shooting-investigation

Shootin 4 Fun · Apr 10, 2015

Why in the name of Mr Ed's balls was a reserve deputy working an undercover sting? Why are reserve officers used for anything other than directing traffic and crossing guards?

Tulsa Shooter · Apr 10, 2015

The Tulsa World article I read stated he served as a police office for 1 year in 1964-1965. Then it went on to say that a lot of the reserve officers are wealthy citizens who donate to the police department.

"Bates apparently is not alone as both a donor and reserve deputy. While the Sheriff’s Office has not released its full roster, Clark said other wealthy donors are among the agency’s 130 reserve deputies.

“There are lots of wealthy people in the reserve program,” he said. “Many of them make donations of items. That’s not unusual at all.”

"Bates has donated multiple vehicles, guns and stun guns to the Sheriff’s Office since he became a reserve deputy in 2008, Clark said. The Sheriff’s Office did not have an itemized list of donations made by Bates available Monday and deferred that question to the county commissioners’ office, which tracks those items."

yukonjack · Apr 10, 2015

I more concerned with age of the reserve deputy. He was too old to be out in the field and his actions prove it. At some point you have to admit its time to take the badge off and move on down the road.

FullAuto · Apr 10, 2015

Shootin 4 Fun said:
Why in the name of Mr Ed's balls was a reserve deputy working an undercover sting? Why are reserve officers used for anything other than directing traffic and crossing guards?

The quality of reserve officers at a sheriff's office can be all over the place. You'll have from retired full time officers down some captain's drinking buddy and everything in between. As mentioned above, there are a LOT of donors in sheriff's departments. Write a big enough check and you can do all sorts of things. The training is all over the place too. Oklahoma County's academy is basically a full time academy without the driving.

Foghorn · Apr 11, 2015

He was not actually part of the sting. They said he was out there as part of surveillance team and became involved due to the fight.
I had a guy in my full time academy that was 67 years old. Thought he was gonna die during the 2 weeks of dt class but he made it. There is no mandatory maximum age for reserves or full time officers.

Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape

BadgeBunny · Apr 11, 2015

yukonjack said:
I more concerned with age of the reserve deputy. He was too old to be out in the field and his actions prove it. At some point you have to admit its time to take the badge off and move on down the road.

Thank you. This is one time when I believe mandatory age requirements should be set by law ... I'm not so sure that a mandatory physical every year for the 5-7 years before that age shouldn't be required, too ...

SoonerP226 · Apr 11, 2015

Shootin 4 Fun said:
Why in the name of Mr Ed's balls was a reserve deputy working an undercover sting? Why are reserve officers used for anything other than directing traffic and crossing guards?

I know a guy who was a reserve deputy for Oklahoma County who did a lot for them, including working on their team that tracked down and served arrest warrants on dangerous fugitives. He was really good at it, but could only work as a volunteer for some reason that escapes me (something to do with his retirement or disability status--he was badly wounded in Vietnam, and still carried shrapnel in his legs).

nofearfactor · Apr 11, 2015

I didnt know the guy personally who got killed but I used to know his younger brother many years ago and while theyre a good God fearing family this one guy was always a troubled one, alot of families have that one kid who just didnt do the right things in life. Knowing Andre like I do though theyre going to raise a big stink about this and I just hope it doesnt become Ferguson Pt 2 over there over it.

Glocktogo · Apr 11, 2015

Shootin 4 Fun said:
Why in the name of Mr Ed's balls was a reserve deputy working an undercover sting? Why are reserve officers used for anything other than directing traffic and crossing guards?

TCSO has four levels of reserve deputy in their program. At Level IV, you can pretty much do anything a full time officer can, including the SWAT team. There have been reserves on SWAT, homicide, CSI, you name it. At one time our chief crime scene photographer was a reserve who donated around 2,000 hours a year (retired guy obviously). To reach Level IV you have to have gone through the state certified academy, 40 hours of prisoner transport and 420 hours of FTO evaluation. The guy I ride with is also a reserve, has been on the SWAT team and is even an FTO himself.

TCSO has gone out of their way to seek national certification and is a National Sheriff's Assoc. Triple Crown Award recipient: http://www.tcso.org/tcsoweb/TrippleCrown.aspx That means all aspects of the office have undergone review for meeting national standards, including the reserve program. We're currently undergoing CALEA accreditation renewal.

This may be the first time a reserve has been involved in a slip and capture incident (at least one that's received major media attention), but more than a few have happened to full time officers. It's not something to be taken lightly whether it's a full timer or volunteer. You can't have too much training, to include critical incident management. Sadly, time and resources will always be less than adequate to ensure perfection and even if they were, you'll never get 100%.

No reasonable person would argue that Harris deserved what he got, but life carries risks. More so if you engage in the types of activities he was involved in.

TCSO: Deputy shouldn't be charged because he confused his weapons (video)

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