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Amy Kinsey didn’t want to wait to get her law enforcement career going.
So much so that when she was 19, she moved away from her family in upstate New York to take a job as a 911 dispatcher in Cobb County, outside Atlanta. Two years later, Kinsey went through the police academy and became a police officer.
She worked uniform patrol for a few years, and she earned a bachelor’s degree in applied behavioral sciences from National Louis University at night while working shifts during the day.
Seeking a change of pace, and something a little safer, Kinsey moved to the Fort Myers area in 2005 with her husband and two young children. She got a job with the 20th Judicial Circuit Administrative Office, which handles pretrial services for criminal defendants and others in the court system in Charlotte, Collier, Lee, Glades and Hendry counties. At first Kinsey wasn’t sure she would ever find anything that would replace the adrenaline-fueled rush of being a street cop.
“But I ended up loving it,” Kinsey says. “It has become my passion.”
Kinsey has been promoted several times in the decade she’s worked in the courts. At one point she oversaw the circuit’s Felony Drug Court, Mental Health Court and misdemeanor diversion programs. In her current role she oversees 35 employees, mostly in case management. While the work case officers do is important, especially in the details of making sure nothing for someone appearing before a judge is overlooked, Kinsey says the best part of her job now is in leadership. Says Kinsey: “I love getting to see others become leaders.”
— Mark Gordon
Name: Amy Kinsey
Age: 38
City of residence: Fort Myers, Fla.
Twitter handle: n/a
Employer: 20th Judicial Circuit Administrative Office of the Courts
Title: Deputy Criminal Division Director
Birthplace: Williamsville, NY
Years on the Gulf Coast: 11
Marital status/children: Divorced, 2 daughters (ages 6 & 10)
Alma mater: National Louis University, Kennesaw State University
Best place to network: Downtown Fort Myers.
Coolest business experience: Development and expansion of a Drug Court Program, seeing lives transformed and saved.
Messy desk or clean workspace: Clean desk
Best business lesson ever learned: Lead by example regardless of position or title.
A website that makes your job easier: Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI.ORG)
Community group you’re most involved with: The Association of Pretrial Professionals of Florida (APPF)
Favorite off-hours activity: Soccer with my children.
Two people, dead or alive, you’d like to have dinner with: Sigmund Freud and my late grandfather.
What you would be doing if you could pick another career: Neonatal Nurse
Top item on your bucket list: Travel Europe.
Skill you’d like to learn: Ability to speak multiple languages.
Who would play you in a movie about your life: Ashley Judd
If I had a magic wand I’d: Cure terminally ill children.
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