Sheriff says Jacksonville officer accessed, shared police information with 'criminals'

First Coast News
Updated ·4 min read

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced the arrest of an officer accused of accessing and sharing information with "criminals in our community" and there's a "strong possibility" it's related to gang activity.

Christopher Barr, 28, was charged with two counts of an "offense against computer users" on Jan. 27, according to jail records that also show he was released the same day on $20,000 bond. The four-year veteran resigned upon his arrest, Waters said.

He said protective databases were used to "access and disseminate law enforcement information to unauthorized individuals."

While the Sheriff's Office does not specify further details about Barr's background, the name and birthdate match the personal information listed by the University of South Florida's website for former Jacksonville football standout Chris Barr, according to The Florida Times-Union.

A two-time Florida High School Athletic Association football champion at wide receiver and defensive back for Trinity Christian Academy in 2013 and 2014, Barr signed with the University of South Florida in 2015 and appeared in 43 career games with the Bulls. Already a Times-Union Super 24 honoree in his senior year, Barr earned attention with Trinity Christian in the nationally-televised Burger King State Champions Bowl in Boca Raton on Dec. 27, 2014, when he scored four touchdowns and gained 240 all-purpose yards during a 35-21 win over Eastside Catholic of Sammamish, Wash.

In this 2014 file photo, Trinity Christian's Chris Barr runs the ball against American Heritage during high school Class 3A State Final football action at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Trinity won 27-7. Barr went on to play for the University of South Florida and work for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office before being arrested on Jan. 27 and resigning.

According to Barr's arrest warrant, the information provided came from cellphone data that involved a text thread conversation or group chat.

In the chat, a "subject" in a separate investigation by another law enforcement agency sent a message to multiple other individuals asking about details of a police interaction in Jacksonville, the warrant states. The subject was asking others to obtain information about when a particular individual was contacted by police. One of the messages indicated that he was going to reach out to Barr.

A screenshot from the subject's phone showed the group chat in the background with a minimized FaceTime conversation window over it, the warrant states. The screenshot showed Barr in his Sheriff's Office uniform and what appeared to be a patrol vehicle. After the reference to Barr in the group chat, messages were sent with names of other witnesses involved in the separate law enforcement agency's investigation. Research indicated that those names were only documented in the narrative of the Sheriff's Office reports written for the separate case.

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The warrant says the phone number used in communication between the subject and officer was Barr's personal cellphone number.

Based on the circumstances of the incident, the warrant says a search of several Sheriff's Office databases was conducted, as investigators found that Barr had searched the Agency Records Management System, a "restricted information system" on Sept. 19, 2023, at 11:05 a.m. The records show that Barr reviewed a report that contained details of the incident being sought by the subject in the group chat.

"The phone records provided showed that the reference to Officer Barr occurred at 11:03 a.m.," the warrant states. "At 11:10 a.m., five minutes after Barr searched the system, conversation in the thread [group chat] was made which mentioned the names of other witnesses in the incident which could have only been obtained from the narrative of that report."

On Jan. 25, the Sheriff's Office was notified of a second incident involving Barr, according to the arrest document. A text message from the subject of the group chat asked Barr to check a tag number on a car on Nov. 12, 2022. Four days later on Nov. 16, 2022, a search of "NCIC/FCIC records revealed that Barr searched that tag number through NCIC/FCIC records," the warrant says.

The warrant states that based on the details of the two incidents, Barr "misused his position to search and disseminated unauthorized law enforcement information to targets of a criminal investigation."

When asked who Barr gave the information to, Waters said he wouldn't give specific names but said they were criminals.

"When a JSO employee has been arrested, no one is above the law and we're not going to tolerate the violations of law by our agency," Waters said. "And when a member of this agency violates the law, that person will be held accountable."

Waters said he doesn't suspect there to be more arrests involving sheriff's officers "right now" related to Barr's arrest. He said he could not provide many details on the arrest due to an active investigation.

Barr's arraignment is set for Feb. 13.

Here's a link to our news partner's story on First Coast News.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville sheriff's officer's arrest possibly gang-related