Public Safety
I am committed to protecting the citizens and communities of Madison County and the state of Indiana. This means we must ensure that the justice system work efficiently to fairly protects all Hoosiers. During my time in the Indiana Senate I have worked on a wide variety of measures to enhance the courts in Madison County, and to protect children and the victims of violent crime.
Tim Lanane playing with his grandchildren.
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Overcrowding caseloads have been a longstanding problem in our court system. To address this problem, I authored successful language to create an additional fulltime judicial magistrate and to elevate the former "county" courts to become Superior Courts. These measures allowed for additional courts with general jurisdiction over all cases, thereby streamlining the administration of justice in our county.
My experience as a private attorney and as a member of the Madison County Fatality Review Team has given me a firm understanding of the needs of victims of crime. In the most recent session of the General Assembly, I worked extensively with my colleague, State Representative Scott Reske, on legislation that extends the time a court may order a person arrested for a violent crime to have no contact with the victim (HEA 1234).
According to The Indiana Youth Institute, 12% of Hoosier youths report being hurt by someone they are dating. I am committed to finding solutions to stop this kind of violence. I co-authored Heather's Law (SEA 316), a bill which allows the Indiana Department of Education to work with domestic violence prevention leaders to develop dating violence education programs.
I feel the courts must insure the safety of victims, while reaching the root causes of the cycle of domestic violence. HEA 1578, of which I was a sponsor, requires a person who is found by a court to be a danger to another person to wear a GPS tracking device if the court finds that the person violated an order of protection. SEA 108, which I authored, requires a court to consider counseling as part of the sentence imposed on an adult or juvenile who has committed animal cruelty. Often those who commit animal cruelty end up committing the same crimes against people.
Indiana has unfortunately experienced the meth scourge which has wrecked the lives of its victims and created a criminal subculture in rural and urban areas of our state. To address this problem, I co-authored SEA 520, which created a registry that identifies sites where methamphetamine was manufactured. I also voted for legislation that prohibits a retailer from selling, and a purchaser from purchasing, more than 3.6 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in one day. These drugs are basic ingredients used to create illegal methamphetamine. The law also required a retailer to post a sign warning that it is now a criminal offense to purchase more than the posted amount.
Additional important public safety issues that I either sponsored or supported include HEA 1427, which protects current undercover officers from having their identity released; SEA 6, which provides that a sexually violent predator must be placed on lifetime parole when the prison term is completed and requires the person to wear a GPS monitoring device; and SEA 247, which established the Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center to collect criminal and terrorism intelligence information.