Supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify the training records for a reserve deputy who accidentally shot and killed a suspect April 2 during an undercover operation, the Tulsa World reports. The newspaper's unnamed sources say the records involved field training and firearms qualification.
At least three of the reserve deputy’s supervisors were transferred after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, multiple sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the World.
The reserve deputy, 73, is accused of second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Eric Harris during an undercover operation on April 2. He posted $25,000 bail early this week.
Sheriff Stanley Glanz told a Tulsa radio station this week that the reserve deputy 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 says the deputy who was in charge of the record keeping at the time the reserve deputy qualified has left the agency for the Secret Service and will be contacted to help find them.
Undersheriff Tim Albin rejected claims that the reserve deputy's 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 told the World. “There aren’t any secrets in law enforcement. Zero. Those types of issues would have come up."
The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office announced early Thursday it will conduct an internal review of the reserve deputy program.
