The Aporia · Brickbat: …in All the Wrong Places

Brickbat: …in All the Wrong Places

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Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Oliver, C. (2026, October 9). Brickbat: …in All the Wrong Places. Reason. https://reason.com/2026/10/09/brickbat-in-all-the-wrong-places/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Indiana State Police arrested Hancock County sheriff’s deputy James Heneghan and charged him with 220 counts each of official misconduct and fraud, plus one count of intimidation. Between December 2024 and March 2026, Heneghan conducted over 6,190 Flock license plate camera searches, mostly off-duty, including more than 1,100 times on his wife’s vehicle and a former high-school girlfriend. He also allegedly fabricated reasons for the searches to appear legitimate and used information from these unauthorized searches to pull someone over in a traffic stop.

Written by AI on 2026-10-09, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

James Heneghan, a deputy with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana, was arrested by Indiana State Police and charged with 220 counts each of official misconduct and fraud, plus one count of intimidation. Between December 2024 and March 2026, he conducted over 6,190 searches using Flock license plate cameras. Only about 40 of these were performed while on duty; the rest targeted personal acquaintances. Specifically, Heneghan searched his wife’s vehicle more than 1,100 times, a man who knew his wife over 1,100 times, and a former high school girlfriend nearly 250 times. He also monitored the husband of an ex-girlfriend and pulled over the daughter of another ex-girlfriend nine times after locating her through false search entries such as “OWI arrest” or “police investigation.” The sheriff’s office has placed Heneghan on leave and is considering termination due to his misuse of Flock cameras for personal reasons without legitimate law enforcement justification.

Written for “Brickbats Incorrect Placement” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 29% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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“The articles describe different events involving misuse of surveillance cameras by law enforcement in Texas and Indiana.”

Suffolk County more than doubles number of ‘Big Brother’ Flock cameras in past year — with many targeting this tony enclave Different event

New York Post

⚖️ Leans right Hedges 4 of 17 claims Outlet record 66/100

“The articles describe different events: one about an increase in Flock Safety cameras in Suffolk County and another about a deputy's misuse of Flock license plate cameras in Indiana.”

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“The articles describe different incidents involving misuse of Flock Safety cameras by authorities; one is about gun store owners removing cameras due to privacy concerns, and the other is about an Indiana deputy's illegal use of such cameras.”

Lawmakers Introduce Multiple Laws to Curb Flock After 404 Media Coverage Different event

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Hedges 2 of 25 claims Outlet record 95/100

“Article A discusses lawmakers introducing legislation to curb Flock camera access, while Article B reports on an arrest of a sheriff's deputy for misuse of Flock cameras.”

Flock is catching flak. Experts say other police surveillance tools are more worrisome Different event

NPR

⚖️ Leans left Hedges 4 of 36 claims Outlet record 60/100

“The articles discuss different aspects of Flock technology; one highlights its general use by police departments and expert opinions on it, while the other reports a specific criminal case involving misuse of the technology.”

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Washington Examiner

⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 66 claims Outlet record 70/100

“The articles describe different aspects of issues related to Flock Safety's license plate readers but do not cover the same specific incident.”

Flock cameras are just the Trojan horse. They’re mapping your entire life Different event

Washington Examiner

⚖️ Leans strongly left Hedges 2 of 23 claims Outlet record 70/100

“While both articles mention Flock cameras, they describe different aspects related to the technology—one focusing on the broader debate and privacy concerns, while the other reports a specific arrest involving misuse of the system.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

29%

2 of 7 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

67/100

Reason's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-09 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Reason · 1081 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Charles Oliver

33 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction

🔮 Speaking at an event in Berlin, Merz was asked about whether informants and journalistic sources may sometimes need to remain anonymous.

2026-11-02 · mixed framing · Brickbat: Redeverbot

🔮 Chicago taxpayers will pay at least $472.8 million to defend and settle lawsuits connected to former Chicago Police detective Reynaldo Guevara, who has been accused of falsifying police reports, framing suspects, and forcing witnesses to identify innocent people as criminals.

2026-10-30 · assertive framing · Brickbat: Home Sweet Chicago

🔮 Opponents in the restaurant industry argued the plan would hurt businesses, since most fast-food sales come through drive-thrus, while disadvantaging large families, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

2026-10-29 · mixed framing · Brickbats: November 2026

🔮 The seizure came as Halk TV was covering corruption allegations involving figures linked to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling party and the trial of imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Brickbat: Turkish Banned

🔮 Four police officers woke and arrested Will Fraser, a 15-year-old Reform U.K. activist, at his Walsall home.

2026-10-16 · assertive framing · Brickbat: Penalty for Posting

🔮 Supporters say the program will help struggling newsrooms survive.

2026-10-13 · mixed framing · Brickbat: Paying the Piper

🔮 Body camera footage shows that officers apparently did not consider that Page might be experiencing a medical emergency, despite his confused behavior and difficulty following commands.

2026-09-30 · assertive framing · Brickbat: Bad Dog

🔮 Stephens replied that he would have sued, to which Bell replied that qualified immunity would have protected him.

2026-09-29 · assertive framing · Brickbat: Evidence Is Overrated

🔮 The bureaucrats suggested that full hearing videos and transcripts should instead be made available, potentially with comments disabled, so the public could see the complete context.

2026-09-22 · mixed framing · Brickbat: Unclipped

🔮 Education Department officials say they withheld the test results to protect student privacy and prevent the release of information that could identify individual students, but critics argue that the privacy explanation is a cover for hiding how poorly many public schools are performing.

2026-09-18 · mixed framing · Brickbat: Testing Our Patience

Also by Charles Oliver

Brickbat: Redeverbot

2026-11-02 · Reason

Brickbat: Home Sweet Chicago

2026-10-30 · Reason

Brickbats: November 2026

2026-10-29 · Reason

Brickbat: Turkish Banned

2026-10-29 · Reason

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 33 articles by Charles Oliver →

Topics

Flock Hancock County Indiana State Police

Subjects

Heneghan PERSON · 2× Hancock County GPE · 1× Indiana State Police ORG · 1× James Heneghan PERSON · 1×

Narrative

He searched his wife's vehicle more than 1,100 times, a man who knew his wife more than 1,100 times, and a former high-school girlfriend more than 200 times, as well as the husband of an ex-girlfriend.

framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-09

2026-10-09 · Reason

Brickbat: …in All the Wrong Places · mixed framing

Claims (7 extracted, 2 hedged)

Indiana State Police arrested Hancock County sheriff's deputy James Heneghan and charged him with 220 counts each of official misconduct and fraud, plus one count of intimidation. asserted

Police → arrest → intimidation

Investigators say Heneghan used Flock license plate cameras to track people he knew. asserted

he → say → people

Between December 2024 and March 2026, according to court documents, he conducted more than 6,190 Flock searches, with only about 40 performed while he was on duty. uncertain

he → accord → duty

who → search → girlfriend

Investigators also say he searched the vehicle of a former girlfriend's daughter nine times and then used the information to locate and pull her over in a traffic stop. asserted

he → say → stop

Heneghan allegedly entered false reasons such as "OWI arrest" or "police investigation" to justify the searches, even though investigators found no legitimate law enforcement reason for them. uncertain

investigators → enter → them

He has been placed on leave, and the sheriff's office is considering his termination. asserted

office → place → termination