NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A high-ranking member of the Tennessee Highway Patrol is accused of using his position to dig up private information.

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Lt. Ronnie Shirley has been accused of tapping into a law enforcement database filled with protected information like driver’s license information, orders of protection and prison records. The information is not normally available to the general public.

"It's things that law enforcement only is authorized to see by law, and misuse of that information is illegal," said Technology Director for the State of Tennessee’s Administrative Office of the Courts Ann Lynn Walker.

Shirley is accused of running invasive checks on people not connected to any crime.

"They sign a user-access that says, 'I will use this for business purposes,'" said Walker.

Gov. Phil Bredesen said on Wednesday that he is keeping tabs on the investigation.

"We aren't going to let anybody off or cover up anything that was wrong, but we aren't going to let a newspaper article or a television (report) run anybody off the road either. We're going to find out the facts of this matter and decide what was appropriate," he said.

Well-known Republican Bob Eckerman and Eckerman’s wife are among people Shirley is accused of digging up info on.

"It can embarrass people, it can be used to blackmail people, and it's simply not for public consumption. That's why it's confidential," said attorney David Raybin.

Raybin was on the steering committee that developed the search engine Shirley is accused of accessing. Raybin said that nothing good can come from someone randomly surfing something so private.

"If they find that this thing has been compromised, it's a terrible breach of trust. It calls into question the integrity of the law enforcement agency," he said.

The Department of Safety began its investigation more than a month ago. Shirley is still working and is under no disciplinary action.

Bredesen said he has talked with Department of Safety Commissioner David Mitchell and that the criminal investigations department is looking into the accusations.

"They are obviously treating this very, very seriously," Bredesen said.

Managers of the database said that it takes about a day to look back at every person that Shirley is accused of checking on.

The investigation will take at least three more weeks to complete, investigators said. Once it is completed, the findings will be turned over to a district attorney for review.

Shirley was also the man found responsible for making former Deputy Gov. Dave Cooley’s speeding ticket go away. Many people at the time speculated that it was a political move to get ahead.

He was supposed to have been demoted after that incident, but he has no disciplinary action on file. Shirley is currently the Department of Safety's liaison to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, a position he has held since 2006. The position helps coordinate emergency preparedness plans.

Shirley is the first person to hold the job on a full-time basis.

Bredesen said the entire Department of Safety has been made over in the past three years. He said he thinks if the accusations against Shirley are true, then it's an isolated incident.

"These kinds of things hurt, but I really do think we're making a lot of progress," he said.

Bredesen added that he also wants some answers as to why Shirley was never punished or demoted for his actions in 2004.

Bredesen said that if efforts were made to sweep the incident under the rug, he wants to know who is responsible.

The THP's top two officials and the safety commissioner resigned in 2005 following reports of troopers with criminal backgrounds and a culture of cronyism and political arm-twisting.