Why was Bates, 73, even at the scene?

And with the video released, questions are also swirling over why the 73-year-old Bates, who is an unpaid certified reserve deputy, was on the scene in such a sensitive and high-risk sting operation.

Daniel Smolen, an attorney representing the Harris family, said Bates was given opportunities to work with the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office because of his significant and longstanding financial support of the agency.

"He could do anything he wanted to, carte blanche access to do whatever he wanted, but with no training," Smolen said.​

Wood said his client -- who had donated cars and video equipment to the Sheriff's Office -- had undergone all the required training and had participated in more than 100 operations with the task force he was working with the day he shot Harris. But he'd never been the main deputy in charge of arresting a suspect, Wood said.

"Probably in the past four of five years since he has been working in conjunction with the task force he has been on, (there were) in excess of 100 operations or search warrants where he was placed on the outer perimeter," Wood said. "He has never been on an arrest team or been the one who is primarily responsible for the capture or the arrest of a suspect. He is there more in a support mechanism."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/us/tulsa-police-shooting-eric-harris-deputy-charged/index.html

The owner of an insurance agencey who donated lots of money & things to the department, is given free-range of the department for his generosity, who supposedly had hours of firearms training but no prior police experience, is a 73 year-old volunteer in the sheriff's office, is in the front line of a crime scene and confuses his firearm for his taser killing a fleeing felon, and the Sheriff's office has no age limit, not even for an unqualified volunteer.  WOW!.

Watching this on the Nightly News last night, they mentioned that many police departments have this type of unpaid, volunteer deputies on their forces. I could see the benefit of this in the case where you need extra bodies to help direct traffic, work special community events and the like, but it boggles my mind that they would allow these types of volunteers to be involved in major sting activities line the one the department ran that led to the shooting.

I should note also while the victim didn't deserve to die because of this, and manslaughter charges are waranted against the deputy, I also have a hard time feeling an overwhelming amount of sympathy for him. The victim was a criminal caught in a sting where he was attempting to sell an illegal handgun (which for all he knew would have been used in a crime that would result in the death of an innocent victim) and then upon realizing he was about to be arrested, fled. He certainly created the situation that led to this tragedy.

Good article Fred. I think the concept of volunteer deputies helping with parades, front desk duties, and community outreach are all valuable benefits to local police departments from both a budgetary and public relations standpoint. 

But yeah, they've got to take the guns out of the hands of the volunteers as well as remove them from crime fighting activities.

TraderJay wrote:

That didn't take long. 
http://theexchange.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=245
 

 
Uncanny, isn't it?