Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper in unathorized background investigation scandal

By Brad Schrades
The Tennessean
Long before he was accused of running unauthorized background investigations on private citizens, a joke made its way around the Tennessee Highway Patrol about Ronnie Shirley.He could parachute over the old Soviet Union, the joke went, and if you telephoned the Kremlin an hour later, Shirley would have schmoozed his way so far within the corridors of the communist state, you'd hear his West Tennessee drawl on the other end of the line.

The joke illuminates a truth about Shirley, a 6-foot-4 trooper full of charm and backslapping political skill, but it also reflects a long-held belief about what it takes to get ahead in the THP: Politics and cozying up to the powerful too often determine the course of a trooper's career."He makes friends," said former THP Lt. Col. Steve Browder, who is from McNairy County, where Shirley grew up, and helped Shirley get hired as a trooper in the late 1980s."He's kind of a self-serving guy. Whoever is in charge, he will find a place at the table."Browder said he's concerned the latest allegations surrounding Shirley — that he ran unauthorized background checks through a criminal justice database on up to 182 Tennesseans — give a black eye to the state's other troopers.

For years, many have said Shirley, 42, could one day be commander of the patrol because of his skill in courting those in high places in state government.He has enough political clout to land plum assignments in the patrol: serving on Republican Gov. Don Sundquist's security detail, and later serving as bodyguard for House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.It was shortly after the Boston trip that news surfaced that Shirley had fixed a speeding ticket for then-Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley — at the time, the most powerful person in Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration. It later came out that the patrol's leadership had concocted a fake punishment for Shirley to throw off the press and public.Could be a politician.

Whenever Shirley came into General Sessions Court Judge Paul Simpson's courtroom, he was polite and as straight as an arrow, the former judge recalled."It really surprises me he's in a controversy," said Simpson, contacted by phone in Denver, where he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. "I think I know him, I don't think he'd ever do anything criminal. I think he's a law-abiding officer; he's been ever since I've known him."A longtime Democrat and Selmer's current vice mayor, Simpson was one of the people Shirley listed as a reference on his job application with the Highway Patrol. Simpson said Shirley is still a friend, and he would have recommended him without any hesitation."He wants to help everybody," said Bryan Farmer, a former trooper from East Tennessee. "In my 25 years in the Highway Patrol, sometimes you have to say, 'No, I can't help someone.' I don't know that Ronnie has the ability to do that." Farmer said he's surprised by the scandals Shirley has been connected with. If Shirley hadn't been in a THP uniform, Farmer said, with his personality, he'd easily be running for political office — with success.His willingness to help may include a deputy governor with a speeding ticket or a trooper who needs help moving furniture on the weekend, Farmer said. "There's consistently temptations to do things around the general orders" — the THP's internal rulebook —"or around the law because you are in a higher rank," Farmer said. "You just have to be able to say no. You never know a man until you work with him," Farmer said. "That's just something I've always lived by and come to realize. If you work with someone on a day-to-day basis you get to know the ins and outs and how he operates."

The THP leadership has given Shirley good marks on his performance evaluations, including one that was completed more than a month after the unauthorized background checks were reported to the THP.On July 30 — almost a month into the criminal investigation into allegations against Shirley — his direct supervisor, Maj. J.R. Perry, signed Shirley's annual performance review, giving him "exceptional" ratings across the board, the highest possible marks.State Safety Commissioner Dave Mitchell and THP Col. Mike Walker signed the review the same day, approving the evaluation.Walker on Friday said he didn't conduct the evaluation, which is based on the entire year's performance."We don't base it on what's happening right at that time," he said. "You look at the year as a whole. I didn't sign his evaluation. I was the reviewer on it. I was not the evaluator. I simply read it and sign off on it."Shirley's full-time posting is another plum assignment — serving as the Safety Department's liaison to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, a position he's held for about two years.Shirley, is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation

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