Tulsa County reserve sheriff’s deputy Robert Bates appears on NBC’s ‘Today Show’ on April 17, 2015

TULSA, Okla. — An Oklahoma judge on Tuesday ordered a grand jury investigation into the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, which has been under scrutiny since a white reserve sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a black suspect in April.

Judge Rebecca Nightingale issued the order after an activist group submitted a petition aimed at compelling a grand jury investigation into Sheriff Stanley Glanz and his department.

The judge ruled that the petition complied with state laws and rejected a request for dismissal from Glanz, who argued the signatures were collected on “homemade forms.”

A community civil rights group called “We the People Oklahoma” submitted the petition on June 19 with more than 8,800 signatures calling for the probe into Glanz and the sheriff’s office.

Under Oklahoma law, if at least 5,000 of those signing the petition are verified as registered voters, a judge can summon prospective members of a grand jury within 30 days.

The request stems from allegations of special treatment, questionable reserve officer training and falsified records made in the aftermath of the April 2 death of Eric Harris, the group said.

The department has denied the allegations.

Robert Bates (pictured above), a 73-year-old reserve deputy, has been charged with second-degree manslaughter for shooting Harris, 44. Bates thought he was using a Taser instead of his gun, the Tulsa sheriff’s office said of the incident that was videotaped and shown in the media.

The case was one of many in recent months that raised questions about the role of race in U.S. policing.

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office is also under investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into possible misconduct.

Reported by Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton for RawStory; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Peter Cooney

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office has made changes to its reserve deputy program, which has come under scrutiny since a 73-year-old in the program fatally shot a suspect he meant to subdue with a Taser.

Sheriff Stanley Glanz said in a press release that reserve deputies cannot patrol alone. They must be partnered with certified deputies.

He also said the reserve program “advanced classification” will be postponed while every reserve deputy’s training is audited.

Robert Bates was classified as an advanced reserve deputy on April 2, when he was backing up other deputies and shot and killed suspect Eric Harris.

Eric Courtney Harris

Bates has said he meant to grab his Taser but pulled out his pistol instead. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.

Training has become a major issue since the shooting, with the victim’s family alleging Bates didn’t have the proper training but was allowed to wear a uniform because he donated vehicles and other equipment to the Sheriff’s Office.

An internal inquiry by the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office in 2009 concluded that Bates was shown special treatment and that training policies were violated regarding his role with the agency.

The Tulsa World newspaper reported some supervisors in the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were told to forge Bates’ records and were reassigned when they refused. The Sheriff’s Office denied the allegations in the newspaper’s report. It also declined a CNN interview to respond to the claims.

The Sheriff’s Office says it has 126 reserve deputies on the force.