35 cents
VOL. 2/ISSUE 17
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Detective vets have got each other’s backs Mary Kemper staff writer
mkemper@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Staff photo by Mary Kemper Indian River County Sheriff’s Office detectives Christopher Anderson, left, and John Finnegan share a close bond as partners and as veterans. “That’s how it is, in the military,” Anderson says. “And that’s how it is with us now.” They give the impression they are two halves of the same coin,
in many ways. They finish each other’s sentences. They look at each other often, as if to make sure what they’re trying to get across is put in the right way.
There is an easiness between them. Their differences add up to
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In the department, they’re known either as “SuperFin” and “SuperFly,” or, simply, the combination “Fin Anderson.” They’re Indian River County Sheriff’s Department detectives Chris Anderson and John Finnegan. They’re both veterans – and they’re partners. For them, that makes for a unique bond that non-vets will never know. Det. Christopher Anderson, 32, and Det. John Finnegan, 29, have been deputies for six years. Their official assignment is in General Crimes – running the gamut from domestic issues to drugs to homicide – but their specialty is gangs, and all the challenging crime-combating that goes with it. Between them, it’s a safe bet to say they’ve seen it all. They risk their lives every day, just as they did when they served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both, though, say their military training and service gave them an edge others don’t have, in dealing with the worst of human behavior. And each, in his own way, is as strongly committed to serving others now, in much the same way, as they did in the wars. “Oh, we bash each other,” Finnegan says, shooting a grin at his partner. “But we have built camaraderie.”