SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Charlie Baker said his administration has stripped dozens of state employees of their take-home, state-owned cars, highlighting a practice that’s taken on increased scrutiny after a top parks official was caught using the lights and sirens on his state vehicle to weave through busy Boston traffic.

Baker, speaking at an unrelated event in Springfield this morning, did not say in which agencies the employees worked, but said the process involved a continuing review of “domicile privileges.”

His office later said the employees spanned a number of executive agencies and the decisions were made by Baker’s budget office as part of a “cost-saving measure.”

“We’ve taken 20 or 30 cars away from people and the process is ongoing,” Baker said, adding that his administration is now reviewing which cars within its 2,500-vehicle fleet are also equipped with lights and sirens and whether they are needed.

News of the moves come just days after Matthew Sisk, the $112,200-a-year deputy commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, was forced to resign after flipping on the lights and sirens on his car to get around traffic in the Seaport. Baker called the GOP operative’s actions “appalling.”

The Herald reported today that Michael D. Crowley, the director of DCR’s fleet operations and a close friend of Sisk, also resigned yesterday. Baker aides said Crowley resigned on his own, and his brief, one-paragraph resignation letter — provided this morning by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs — did not disclose why he abruptly quit his $72,000-a-year post.

“That decision was made at the agency level,” Baker said. “I’m aware of it. But I’m not at liberty to speak about it beyond that.”

The fallout comes amid an escalating state investigation into a claim, first reported in the Herald report last month, that top officials at EEA retaliated against an aide whose fiance is running as a Democrat for state Senate against a Republican incumbent.

Administration lawyers have interviewed a number of people, including Cynthia Lewis, an aide at the state Environmental Police, who has accused top officials of threatening to reassign her unless her fiance, J.D. Parker-O’Grady, dropped his Senate bid.

Last month, Sisk and DCR commissioner Leo Roy were suspended for a week for using state staff to compile the guest list for a pre-Fourth of July bash at a top Republican’s home, where they also used state-leased golf carts to shuttle party-goers to the Esplanade.

Attorney General Maura Healey weighed in yesterday, telling Boston Herald Radio that Sisk’s actions were “beyond the pale,” and that the string of issues “seems to be part of a pattern.”

Baker did not address the criticisms straight on but said he doesn’t take the issues “lightly at all.”

“Several people have left and we believe that that was appropriate,” the Republican said. “My view on reviewing the allegations that were raised is that there were serious allegations and it was important for us to make sure that we talk to all of the people who are associated with that so in the end we would make what would be the most appropriate and necessary decisions.”

DEVELOPING…