Third trooper ran background checks

By Brad Schrade, THE TENNESSEAN

Another highway patrol officer has been reprimanded for accessing the same state criminal justice computer portal as Lt. Ronnie Shirley, according to a department spokesman.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Sgt. Clifford Babits received a written reprimand for running checks on his wife, Dorothy Babits, who is a Department of Safety employee, and two adult children and his ex-wife, agency spokesman Mike Browning said Tuesday.

The portal received statewide attention in August when it came to light that Shirley had run as many as 182 unauthorized checks on private citizens and other state employees.

Shirley was fired and is appealing his termination. His attorney, Rob Briley, said his client acknowledges he did wrong but the punishment is too harsh and out of line with others who have misused the portal. The punishment of Babits is one example that may be used in the Shirley appeal.

The portal offers quick access to a variety of databases collected in state government, such as some criminal history records and driver's license information. The information is supposed to be used only for law enforcement purposes, but several recent cases have raised questions about who is accessing the information and why.

Col. Mike Walker said Dorothy Babits reported in August that someone had accessed her information through the portal. Walker said she thought Shirley had run her information and inquired through the internal affairs office about the check.

"I think that's probably what she thought, that she had been run, too," Walker said.

It turns out that it was her husband who had accessed her information. Clifford Babits, who works in the Nashville district, said he accessed the information to "learn the usage of the portal," according to a warning letter placed in his personnel file.

Babits declined an interview request through Browning.

A third THP officer, Lt. Robert Eckerman, is being investigated for accessing the portal info of his wife, son and ex-wife. Eckerman's attorney says his client believes the investigation is retaliation because he was the officer who started the Shirley investigation after discovering his information had been accessed.

A state probation officer is accused of misusing the information, as is a Wilson County commissioner who served as a police officer.