Sgt Will Moore has been a Public Safety Officer with Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety for 20 years.  A veteran in the department, he has been an important member of several specialty units including the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team, Community Policing Unit, an Engine Operator, Recruiter and a has been a Sergeant for the past 5 years.

When asked why he chose a career in Public Safety, Moore immediately recalls an incident that took place one summer while at a church function, when he was 13 years old;  "Two of my buddies and I were sitting by the pool, when the one person in our group who couldn't swim, stupidly decided to jump in." After a few moments, they began to realize the friend was now in desperate need of rescuing. "I looked around and no one else was going to help him, so I dove in."  While bringing the frantic friend to safety, Moore was struck in the head by a flailing arm, knocking him unconscious.  Moore sank to the bottom of the deep-end, where he remained for almost 15 minutes, according to onlookers.  Several people attempted to save Moore using the rescue hook from poolside but after numerous failed attempts, an unknown male dove into the water and brought him to safety.  The rescuer performed CPR on Moore and remarkably was able to regain a pulse. Moore spent 3 days in the hospital where he was told about the events that had taken place.  "The funny thing is nobody asked the firefighter his name, and he didn't give his name... he just left... my spiritual side feels that it was an angel that saved me that day."

Moore went on to study at North Carolina Central University where he learned about the concept of Public Safety (a Police-Fire-EMS integrated department) while at the recruiting event, "I just thought to myself, wow I could give back to this firefighter who saved my life. And that's why I feel I got in this line of work." Moore has told this story to several interested applicants while he worked as a recruiter for KDPS, in hopes to inspire more citizens to give back.