Jody Lynch was born in Sacramento, California on March 1, 1970. Growing up, she moved around a lot due to being a part of a military family. She went to many on-post schools and graduated from Folsom Cordova High School in 1988. From there she went to American River College and Provo Community College before joining the Air Force and going to the College of the Air Force. She has an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice and has gone through the Criminal Justice Academy and the Institute of Police Technology and Management.
She also has organized crime and gang expertise. She has worked for the City of Florence Police Department and the Florence County Sheriff’s Office. She currently works for the University of South Carolina as an adjunct professor and for her own company – Southern Safety Group, a security and private investigation company. She ran for sheriff in Florence County in 2016, and while she did not win, she learned a lot and was successful in getting the previous sheriff indicted for unethical behavior. This was formative for her as she wanted corruption out of office. While she did not have any particular mentor, there was an event within her youth that stuck with her and indirectly maneuvered her into a career in the police force and becoming an advocate for women. She won a Woman of the Year Award for 2010-2011.
Interviewed by: Alex French, USC Upstate
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Content Warning: this oral history interview contains references to rape and sexual assault in the course of discussing the narrator's work.
Content Warning: this oral history interview contains references to rape and sexual assault in the course of discussing the narrator's work.