( CNN ) Robert Bates , 73 , shot and killed a man while playing cops and robbers with real police . Bates was a reserve deputy sheriff , which allowed him to `` work full time jobs in the community and volunteer ... time in a myriad of events such as the Special Olympics and Tulsa State Fair , '' according to the Tulsa County Sheriff Office 's website . But Bates was n't limited to crowd control at sporting events for the disabled . He had taken part in more than 100 operations with the violent crimes task force , according to his lawyer . On April 2 , Bates thought he was going to use a Taser on Eric Harris , who deputies had just tackled after he sold an undercover officer a Lugar pistol and then took off running . But Bates was n't holding a Taser . He was holding his gun . He fired one shot and killed Harris . From a policing perspective , there was n't even good reason to use a Taser against Harris . Cops were on scene . Harris was n't getting the upper hand . He was n't going anywhere . And despite what Bates would later claim , Harris was not running like a man with a gun . In fact , Harris was running fast and his arms were pumping very much like a man who is not protecting a gun in his waistband . What was Bates , an insurance company CEO , doing there in the first place ? It certainly looks like Bates was given special access to `` real '' policing . Harris had given $ 2,500 to Sheriff Stanley Glanz 's re-election campaign . He donated cars to the department . He gave equipment . So it would be noteworthy if Bates ends up being convicted based on evidence provided by `` sunglass cameras '' that he may have purchased for the department . A Tulsa police official said the agency has 130 reserve deputies , many of them wealthy people who make donations to the police . `` That 's not unusual at all , '' he told the Tulsa World . Maybe Bates could have been a reserve deputy without donating anything . But I doubt there are many volunteer septuagenarians working with the violent crimes task force . He was too old to be policing the streets . Tulsa police said that Bates had served a year in 1964 as a police officer . Most police departments have mandatory retirement ages . Federal law-enforcement officers , for instance , retire at 57 . How easy is it to confuse a gun for a Taser ? Police officers generally look with a skeptical eye toward volunteers . For one thing , it makes it tougher to push for a pay raise when people are offering to do your job for free . But departments also know that you get what you pay for . What is the point of background checks , psychological tests and the professional training police undergo if a person can donate a few grand and go out on patrol ? Some people are a little too eager to be police officers . These people perhaps buy a police-like car for their personal car . Maybe they put in a police light or two . Some have actually made car stops . Police departments hate cop impersonators ( it 's illegal , by the way ) and try and weed them during the hiring process . You want workers who like the job , but not too much ; there 's a fine line between passion and fanaticism . That said , there are good volunteer police officers . New York City , for example , has auxiliary police . These officers received more limited training and they help with neighborhood events and other nonenforcement activities . They wear an NYPD uniform but do not carry a gun . Auxiliary police and similar programs reinforce the notion that the police are the public and the public are the police . Volunteers remind us all that policing is a noble public calling , and most police work does not have to be done by overly militarized SWAT officers . An auxiliary program also allows young recruits a way to dip their foot into the police world before taking the plunge . It can be a great benefit to everybody when potential officers discover the job is n't for them before they are locked into a 20-year commitment . What happened in Tulsa County is a disgrace to police professionalism , and the fallout from this disaster may push police departments to end these kinds of programs . That would be a mistake . Police departments should encourage more productive interactions between police and the public . But a line does need to be drawn .
# ##s : Reserve cop , apparently , tried to throw a Taser on a man , but shot him dead instead . Why was a volunteer cop witha gun in a violent crimes unit ? He says the man may have bought his way in with respect to police . police are , and should be , wary of those a little too eager to be police . Moskos : Right approach is unarmed auxiliary cops , like in police , volunteering as a way to connect public to police .