High Percent Of Tulsa Reserve Deputies Not Compliant With Requirements, Audit Shows

An audit investigating the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office reveals 80 percent of Tulsa County reserve deputies are not in compliance with training requirements.

The audit says the deputies, including the most advanced, are not up to date with training hours or firearms qualifications.

There are 23 advanced reserve deputies. Bob Bates was part of that group when, he said, he mistook his Taser for his gun and shot and killed Eric Harris.

Special Coverage: TCSO Reserve Deputy Shooting Controversy

Of those 23 advanced reserves, one has a file that complies with training requirements.

The audit of the Tulsa County reserve deputy program shows 91 reserve deputies are missing training records.

It also shows a dozen reserves don't have an updated annual firearm qualification, nine are classified advanced when they haven't met the minimum service hour requirement to be advanced, and two deputies don't have files.

A Bixby city councilman is one of the reserves without a file.

Read The Audit Here

Richard Stewart said he's frustrated his training isn't represented in the audit, but said he doesn't blame the sheriff's office.

Stewart provided us with his CLEET record, showing he does have more than 1,100 hours of training, which should be in a file at the sheriff's office.

News On 6 brought the issue to the attention of department spokesman Deputy Justin Green, who, after checking on it, said, "We do have his file. Documents just weren't in place."

Green said most reserves have done the training but haven't turned in the paperwork, saying, "Primarily it's stuff that's just missing. We do some in-house training...we have those documents. We do other outside agency training...deputies are responsible to provide those documents."

Since the audit, eight reserve deputies have resigned and 14 have graduated to join the force.

We're told all reserve deputies, except three, have updated their files with their training records.

Those three who didn't update their files are no longer reserve deputies.