Tom Carney. Photo provided.

Tom Carney, a 21-year veteran of the Huntington County Sheriff's Department, has announced that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination as sheriff.

Carney has served as major, the department's second in command, under Sheriff Kent Farthing for both of Farthing's terms in office. Farthing is limited by state law to two four-year terms.

Carney also served as a reserve officer with the Sheriff's Department before being hired on as a full-time officer in 1988.

"I started as a court officer, a road officer," Carney says. "And I've served as night shift sergeant."
In addition, Carney has worked in the jail, in dispatch, in the office and in courts.

"Mainly courts," he says. "That's our main job, as court officers ... Law enforcement is a big part of it, but the sheriff is a court officer. We report to the courts."

He says serving as sheriff has always been in the back of his mind.
"When I came here, that was a goal I looked at," he says.

He believes that his experience throughout the Sheriff's Department, as well as a stint in management at Bendix before joining the department, will give him an edge as sheriff.

A major responsibility will be setting and living within a budget, he says, noting that the current economic situation is "serious" and will require good management.

"I feel I can be a part of that," Carney says.

Carney is a lifelong Huntington resident. He and his wife Audrey are members of the First Baptist Church. He is also a member of the Mt. Etna Masonic Lodge, Shrine and Scottish Rite.