INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Sgt. John Finnegan was placed on paid administrative leave amid an investigation into him possibly misusing the Flock Safety license plate camera system, sheriff's officials confirmed Monday. "Since a possible issue was brought to our attention, Sgt. Finnegan has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into this matter," said Lt. Kevin Jaworski, a spokesperson for the Indian River County Sheriff's Office. "Prior to this incident, the agency had already begun an audit of its Flock camera system. The audit remains ongoing." Details about the investigation into Finnegan were not immediately available. The probe comes nearly a week after Fort Pierce police arrested a now-former officer Josepher Crutchfield on four felony counts of unauthorized computer access of the Flock system. Crutchfield - one of dozens of law enforcement officers nationwide suspected of misusing the high-tech tag reader system - resigned Aug. 18 before the end of the criminal investigation, according to police. Fort Pierce police said Crutchfield accessed the Flock database 382 times to query his ex-girlfriend's vehicle between Oct. 2025 and July 2026. Crutchfield used multiple different "reason" categories, which were for no legitimate law enforcement purposes. Most of the searches were made while Crutchfield was off-duty, police said. Officers said Crutchfield also accessed other law enforcement databases, including the National Crime Information Center, the Florida Crime Information Center, the Driver and Vehicle Information Database and TransUnion's TLOxp to search the woman's vehicle. After Crutchfield's arrest, Fort Pierce police authorized a comprehensive audit of the entire department's use of the Flock database. The audit in Fort Pierce remains ongoing, police said. The Florida Department of Transportation on Monday, Aug. 31,<a href="https://veronews.com/2026/08/31/law-enforcement-agencies-prepare-to-remove-license-plate-readers-after-state-memo/"> ordered all automated license plate readers on state highways to be removed</a> within 30 days. The command came after nationwide reports of misuse, data privacy concerns and surveillance schemes. <a href="https://veronews.com/2026/09/08/flock-cameras-successful-tool-in-solving-criminal-investigations-law-enforcement-officials-say/">Indian River County law enforcement agencies</a> said they will comply and remove the cameras from state rights-of-way. There are other automated license plate readers - not located on state highways - in the county that will not be moved. <em>No further information was immediately available. </em>