Holden-Kay
Something highly unusual happened at the beginning of the year: Bartholomew County’s elected leadership in both the county sheriff’s and prosecutors offices changed.
Fortunately, our county will be represented by experienced and familiar faces who show every indication of working well together.
Newly elected Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay and Sheriff Chris Lane, both Republicans, took their oaths of office recently as well known and highly regarded public servants. And sitting down with The Republic’s Mark Webber recently, both officials in these positions of enormous public trust made good impressions.
Lane had been former Sheriff Matt Meyers’ chief deputy for all eight years of his term, and Lane ran unopposed in the primary and general elections. That’s a rare occurrence for what is generally a county’s most lucrative and sought-after elected position.
Lane said he’s looking forward to a good working relationship with Holden-Kay. “Lindsey is definitely going to be a breath of fresh air for law enforcement,” he told Webber.
Holden-Kay has deep experience as a prosecutor, including handling major felony cases in Marion County. And she made clear her expectation of working with law enforcement.
“When I got out and actually saw what law enforcement was doing to get their work to my desk, it gave me a different perspective than I think a lot of prosecutors have,” Holden-Kay said. “It’s a perspective that I will want all of my deputy prosecutors to have.”
Both Lane and Holden-Kay give the impression of being hands-on officials who recognize the value of partnerships and bridge-building with important community stakeholders. You could read that, for instance, in Webber’s reporting about their approaches to handling criminal charges arising from drug addiction.
Lane was instrumental in setting up and operating the drug treatment program in the Bartholomew County Jail, and he recognizes the need to balance responsibility with recovery.
“Lock them up and throw away the key?” Lane asked. “That’s been tried since the Nixon administration in the 1970s. All you get are higher incarceration rates, fill up more prisons and spend huge amounts of money.”
Yet Lane added, “Every addict has family and loved ones. We owe them an obligation to do everything we can to hold drug dealers accountable.”
Holden-Kay described her hands-on approach as follows: “My vision for public safety is someone who not only does the traditional prosecutorial work, but is also very in tune with the challenges our community is facing.”
On that score, she told Webber she will be the prosecutor assigned to the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET), as well as to the Intelligence-Led Policing Team. Either she or a chief deputy will handle all high-level felony cases, Holden-Kay said.
We wish Holden-Kay and Lane well as they embark on their vital leadership as two of our county’s top public servants.
