Eric Holmes was recently appointed as the chief deputy for the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, bringing decades of law enforcement experience with him.
Holmes started in the position last Friday and is taking over for Chief Deputy Rick Jordan. Champaign County Sheriff Matt Melvin said Jordan, who had served as the chief deputy for four years, departed from the sheriff’s office on medical disability.
Holmes is eager to serve the local community.
“My wife came from Champaign County and my in-laws still live in Champaign County and I still have family in Champaign County so I’m familiar with the Champaign County area,” Holmes said. “This opportunity presented itself and it was kind of a very easy decision to make in order to come up here.
“It’s a good department, Sheriff Melvin is doing some very good, positive, progressive things. It’s a great community and everything has been positive with this and I look forward to continuing that mission with him and just continuing to make this organization positive and being a positive resource for the citizens of this county.”
Holmes started his law enforcement career in 1985 when he enlisted in the Air Force/Air National Guard and served with the Air Force Security Police. A few years later, Holmes was in college at Wright State University when he had the opportunity to go to the police academy.
While at the academy, Holmes worked as a part-time officer for the Enon Police Department until 1989. Around the same time, Holmes worked as a special deputy for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Holmes was hired by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in August 1989 and worked for the department until December 2014. During his time with the sheriff’s office, Holmes served in various positions, including being the sergeant in charge of the New Carlisle area, detective lieutenant and captain.
“I worked with Eric on cases in the past. Whether it’s administratively or criminally he just has a professionalism about him,” Melvin said. “He’s able to deal with multiple types of situations in a professional manner that is going to be an asset to the sheriff’s office.”
After retiring from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Holmes worked as a bailiff in the Clark County Municipal Court.
Holmes said he is looking forward to being back in a full-time law enforcement position after working as a bailiff.
“Working at the court, I was still a sworn peace officer but that’s a different type of policing,” Holmes said. “I spent over 25 years of my life in a sheriff’s uniform and this gives me the opportunity to go back into that uniform full-time and to hopefully use some of the experiences that I’ve had to maybe mentor some of the younger officers if I can – but also allow them to mentor me with some of the things that I may not be familiar with.”
Within the sheriff’s office, Melvin said Holmes will have administrative duties including overseeing the road division and other daily operations.
