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Tulsa sheriff's employees were told to forge Bates' training records.

3 supervisors who refused to sign forged records on Robert Bates were reassigned

(CNN)Some supervisors at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office were told to forge Robert Bates' training records, and three who refused were reassigned to less desirable duties, the Tulsa World reported.

Bates' training has come under scrutiny since the 73-year-old volunteer deputy killed Eric Harris on April 2. Bates claims he meant to use his Taser, but accidentally fired his handgun instead.

Dylan Goforth, one of the two Tulsa World reporters on the story, said the paper starting hearing "almost immediately" from different sources that Bates' training records had been falsified.

The newspaper said the Sheriff's Office provided a list of the courses Bates received credit for, but did not give details such as the names of the supervisors who signed off on the training.

Was Bates qualified to be in weapons sting?
Was Bates qualified to be in weapons sting? 04:15

Ziva Branstetter, the other Tulsa World reporter, said she has been asking for the names of the supervisors involved.

"You would think the sheriff's office, if in fact there has been no pressure applied, no falsification of records, that they would be forthcoming with these documents," she told CNN's "New Day."

"We've asked for them. They've said they don't believe they're public records."

The Tulsa World story does not say who allegedly asked the supervisors to falsify the training records, or why.

But the orders apparently started years ago, before Harris' death, "back when (Bates) was trying to get on as a deputy," Branstetter said.

The sheriff's office strongly denied the allegations in the Tulsa World's report. It also declined a CNN interview to respond to the claims.

But in an email to CNN, the department's Maj. Shannon Clark said the lack of named sources in the Tulsa World report leaves him dubious.

"Just keep in mind that the Tulsa World reporter cannot validate her sources and claims anonymity, which leaves us skeptical that her claims are unsubstantiated and deceptive," Clark wrote.

Bates was classified as an advanced reserve deputy for the sheriff's office. That means he would have had to complete 480 hours of the Field Training Officer (FTO) program to maintain that classification, the paper said.

Bates would also have needed firearms certification training.

Missing gun certification records
But the sheriff himself has acknowledged there is a problem with Bates' gun certification records -- his office can't find them.

"Bob went out and qualified with three different weapons with an instructor," Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz told KFAQ radio this week.

He said Bates "qualified with a young lady that was a firearms instructor." But she is no longer there.

"She has left the sheriff's office and is now a Secret Service agent," Glanz told KFAQ. "And we're trying to get a hold of her and talk to her about ... we can't find the records that she supposedly turned in. So we're going to talk to her and find out if for sure he did qualify with those."

More here w video
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/us/tulsa-shooting-robert-bates-training/index.html
Somewhere in Tulsa, there's 3 supervisors who are glad they didn't cave into peer pressure...
^ for real!
Bates bought them equipment, vehicles and vacations in the Caribbean and Mexico. I hope these idiots had a real good time with those toys and holidays cause it's all crashing down now.
Deep "DO-DO" Big Time for a lot of folks. I'm sure the City and Mr. Bates have a lot of insurance ... they are going to need it!
I would say all involved will come out unscathed as should be the case. He had a badge and did the same thing numerous full timers have done so not seeing any issues with how this played out.
Originally Posted by Deerwhacker444
Somewhere in Tulsa, there's 3 supervisors who are glad they didn't cave into peer pressure...


Why? If they went along with it they would have the support of the other officers in that area as we saw during the righteous shooting. Look at what their behavior already got them with the transfers. LE is a group and the group cannot function without conformity.
Just another blue line day thing. Watch the rats scramble. All the co conspirators should face murder charges.
Sheriffs Department here had a big scandal a few years ago, one much bigger than this, over falsifying records for the purpose of promotion, higher pay and benefits. Also involving quite a few high ranking officers and instructors.

Los Angeles Fire Department is going through something similar right now, which also involves high ranking officers, instructors, and legislators, one that started out as investigating family members being hired in front of more qualified personal.

One of the local newspapers today just got a journalism award for breaking the story of the school district superintendent, the one in probably the smallest district in the state, paying himself over $700,000 a year and some very lucrative benefits to match.

Its happening everywhere!


Phil
Originally Posted by wildbill59
Just another blue line day thing. Watch the rats scramble. All the co conspirators should face murder charges.


They aren't scrambling. They are investigating themselves.
Originally Posted by Greyghost
"Sheriffs Department here had a big scandal a few years ago, one much bigger than this, over falsifying records for the purpose of promotion, higher pay and benefits. Also involving quite a few high ranking officers and instructors. ..." Phil


Yep, that was under Sheriff Lee Baca, who took over as LASD Sheriff when the old LASD sheriff, Sherman Block, died. Didn't happen under Block. Baca was a snake and ended up being force to retire.

L.W.
Originally Posted by Leanwolf
Originally Posted by Greyghost
"Sheriffs Department here had a big scandal a few years ago, one much bigger than this, over falsifying records for the purpose of promotion, higher pay and benefits. Also involving quite a few high ranking officers and instructors. ..." Phil


Yep, that was under Sheriff Lee Baca, who took over as LASD Sheriff when the old LASD sheriff, Sherman Block, died. Didn't happen under Block. Baca was a snake and ended up being force to retire.

L.W.


Why was he forced to retire? If he had done anything wrong police would have arrested him.
He said he was sorry on TV while surrounded by family. Good shoot and case closed.
That was a big mistake to go on TV. What a plastic looking lawyer.
There I something inherently wrong (mentally) for any everyday citizen(s) that wants to put on a uniform complete with all accessories, badge, sidearm, taser, cuffs, radio, etc., and go out to play Cop. It has nothing to do with wanting to "serve the community".

The game of for keeps of being an LEO is for pros not for part time wannabes.
The guy was too old to be working as a cop. It was a physical mix-up involving at least 2 cops/one bad guy, maybe three cops. Bad guy was unarmed. Had he been a healthy young cop, the guy wouldn't even have needed to draw his taser.

They had no business putting a 72 year old man on the streets, volunteer or not.
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