Republican Matt Lane is running uncontested for Sheriff of McLean County on November 8th.
Lane has 24 years of experience with the McLean County Sheriff’s Department and currently serves as the Support Services Commander with responsibilities over a wide variety of functions within the sheriff’s office. He has also worked as a; sergeant with responsibilities over patrol court security, domestic violence investigator and patrol deputy.
Lane was born and reared in McLean county. He and his wife Mandy have two daughters, Maddie and Macy.
Lane says he is running for Sheriff because, “There is a long standing tradition of pride and integrity at the Sheriff’s Office. I want to be sure that continues and help move the Sheriff’s office forward. We plan to meet these challenges with professional and ethical law enforcement. Our ultimate goal is to always keep the people of McLean County safe.”
One of the big challenges Lane will face is dealing with the SAFE-T act that goes into effect on January 1, 2023. Cities 92.9 asked Lane a couple of questions regarding that legislation.
Cities: What are your thoughts on the SAFE- T act?Lane: The SAFE-T Act is going to be a challenge for law enforcement across the state. It’s unfortunate that this bill was passed without law enforcement input. This bill makes criminals less accountable. I don’t believe that is what the people of Illinois and McLean County expected from the legislature.
Cities: What are your thoughts on eliminating cash bail?Lane: I’m doubtful that the general public understands the impact that this may have on the community when no cash bail is implemented on Jan 1, 2023. The Sheriff’s office is working diligently to understand and prepare for the changes that will take place. We are focused on keeping our communities/county safe.
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During the past year, Sharon Chung a McLean County Board Member, who serves on the boards Justice Committee asked current Sheriff Jon Sandage tough questions about operations at the Jail. And last spring Sandage publicly criticized Chung. Chung and her constituents have been hopeful that Lane will be more willing to work with them on inmate concerns.
Chung is now running for the Illinois State House in the 91st District. We asked Lane about a couple of questions relevant to her constituency’s concerns.
Cities: Does Governor Pritzker’s continuing extensions of the COVID-19 Emergency require you to continue to keep inmates in isolation?Lane: Our detention facility follows CDC guidelines. We quarantine new arrivals to the jail for 10 days
Cities: What impact might there be to inmate health resulting from crushing their meds and are there problems that may result from crushing time release meds or is this situation resolved by having doctors not prescribe time release meds to inmates?Lane: At this time we do not crush medications for anyone. The only time we do crush medication is when the Doctor specifies that the medications should be crushed and the pharmacist verifies that the particular medication is effective when crushed
