TULSA, Okla. — Four years ago today, long time Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz resigned after an investigation revealing abuse of power, and misuse of county funds.
Today, things have changed under the new leadership of Sheriff Victor Regalado.
The Sheriff describes the last four years as a whirlwind, but he says the Tulsa County Sheriffs Office has come a long way in a short amount of time.
"From the day I got elected, we went straight to work," Regalado said. "Some of the bigger things were the budget of course. When I came into office, the county was appropriating 3.6 million dollars to the jail function alone."
He says now they've given half a million dollars back to the county, reducing some of the taxpayer dollars spent on the Tulsa County Jail.
In addition to budget, policies and changing medical vendors, the sheriff says new technology played a large role.
"Body cameras have really changed," Regalado explains. "They've been an outstanding addition to our tool box. We've been able to replace a majority of our aging fleet, so now our deputies can get from point a to point b safely."
Now his goal is to continue to grow as a department.
"As the sheriff, I am the leader of this office but I am not the end all be all of everything," Regalado said. "I depend on the people that work here and they depend on me and so we've created an atmosphere that we are all in this together."
He says although they aren't perfect, after what happened a few years ago, he wants to continue to strive toward positive growth.
"It's time now," Regalado said. "We are at that point now where that is a part of our past. We are not going to forget it because I think if you forget things you tend to repeat them. At the same time I want to focus on the people that are here now."
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