WALLACE – When Holly Lindsey received word that she had won the race for sheriff in the November election, her initial thoughts were of gratitude to have received the stamp of approval from the voters in Shoshone County. 

Lindsey was appointed sheriff of Shoshone County in December of 2022, which doesn’t seem all that long ago, but in that time, the landscape of the county has changed dramatically. When former Sheriff Mike Gunderson retired, it was a previous board of commissioners who confirmed Lindsey’s appointment – none of whom are sitting commissioners in 2025.  

Because of this unusual ascent, Lindsey had only ever watched elections from the outside, which made the 2024 race foreign territory for her.  

Now that the race is over and her first full term is set to begin, Lindsey plans to stay the course with her department, but she has plenty of things to keep her busy.  

“The first thing that jumps out to me is how to stabilize our budget,” Lindsey said. “We have to stabilize how this office is supposed to function with the way that the funding is set up through the justice fund.”  

According to Lindsey, the justice fund, which funds the sheriff’s department, safety building, and jail, was initially set up with insufficient funds to sustain the department.  

“It’s a weekly struggle,” Lindsey said. “We can’t keep functioning like that.”  

Lindsey reported that, in December, the SCSO went over their monthly budget just paying their monthly bills. This required the county to pull money from its general fund and move it to the justice fund to cover costs.  

While the funding issue is mostly behind the scenes, how the SCSO tackles growing crime throughout the county is a major public concern – One that Lindsey takes very seriously.  

Since 2022, the SCSO has managed to maintain a nearly fully staffed department, including patrol deputies and expanding to two detectives. Along with the continuous flow of drugs into and through Shoshone County, Lindsey has focused her department’s efforts on family crime, child sex crimes, and crimes against the elderly.  

“Since COVID, we’ve seen a surge in child sex crime,” Lindsey said. “That’s why we initiated the second detective because it was just too much for one detective to handle.”  

However, one of the SCSO’s detectives recently stepped away from the department, which has left the remaining detective with a large caseload.  

“Drug crime is our second priority right now,” Lindsey said. “Being able to maintain our staff has helped us because the guys and gals on the street have the experience and know-how to combat the drug crime.” 

Shoshone County’s Drug Task Force has been making great strides in the different communities, consistently busting local drug dealers. Maintaining that cooperative agreement with the other departments and agencies throughout the Silver Valley has been vital to the success the SCSO has seen in successfully clearing numerous drug cases over the past three years.  

In that time, the crime rate in Shoshone County has risen, but so has the SCSO’s clearance for these crimes. According to the State of Idaho crime report, in 2023, the SCSO ranked second in terms of arrests made in connection to the crimes committed.  

Lindsey hopes to continue this success, while also growing her department and continuing or cultivating positive relationships with her fellow elected officials and throughout Shoshone County.  

“We want to be the best this office has ever been,” Lindsey said. “We want to maintain our staff, continue to keep those clearance rates high, get those cases solved. But at the end of the day, I look forward to being able to work together with the other offices in the county and coming up with ways to better serve the community and make sure this office is running better than ever.”