Sen. Ashley Moody presents first Florida's Finest Award

Welcome back into Fox 35 News Plus. Senator Ashley Moody presented her first Florida's Finest Award today. She was in the Indialantic. This is an award that she's starting to honor and recognize Floridians who she says take courageous action to make their communities stronger and safer. And the first recipient of this award is Ashley Willis who is a volunteer 9-1-1 operator with the City of Indialantic. She stepped in to respond to a dropped 9-1-1 call and she was honored and recognized in the ceremony just a little bit ago. I am very excited to be here today to present our very first Florida's Finest Award to none other than Ashley Willis. And not just because her name is Ashley, although that is a power name. Ashley quickly responded to a dropped 9-1-1 call while working as a dispatcher. And just so you know, Ashley fills in as a dispatcher voluntarily. So anytime they need her to help, she jumps in and helps out and takes those phone calls. And I want to go in before I move forward with this story and tell you a little bit about who Ashley is as a person. She worked retail for most of her life after she became a working adult and had taken a class in high school on police and what they did. And it always stuck with her. And she always felt like it was something she wanted to do. She wasn't sure she could be the person that rushed onto the scene, but she knew she wanted to be a part of that effort, that heroic effort, that brave, courageous, selfless service that so many people that work in our firefighting and law enforcement agencies do every single day. And so while she had been in retail most of her life, she heard of an opening at a police department right here and said, I want to be part of something that serves others and is bigger than myself. And she decided to totally change course in her life and began work right here at the police department. And I think that speaks volumes of who you are, Ashley. There's oftentimes when we have job responsibilities, what takes a person to the next level, which really makes a difference, is when there is a compassionate connection to the job responsibility. And I know for just based on the reason you came to serve here, by the fact that you will jump in and help out when dispatchers need help, because oftentimes they get very incredibly busy and overwhelmed. It's that kind of person that we need to work in our police agencies, that we want to work in our police agencies. And I'm so glad you answered that inkling that you wanted to be in police service, that you remembered back from high school and answered the call, because that answer to that call very well could have saved two lives. Ashley responded to a dropped 911 call, and some may have not followed up on that. But there was something about when she noticed the silent alert and where it was on the map, there was a small indicator of a dropped call. Something about that made her spring into action and further investigate. She had no audio, no direct communication. Again, it's that compassionate connection to the job that made all the difference. Her instincts proved correct, and police discovered a domestic violence situation involving a seven-month pregnant woman, and certainly the quick response of Ashley may have saved both that woman's life and her unborn child. Her attention to detail and swift response led to the arrest and now the recognition today. For her actions, she has previously been named Telecommunication Officer of the Year, and today I would like to award her with our first Florida's Finest Award. Your quick thinking, your courage, your unwavering commitment to duty shines as the very best of Florida, and we are so great, so privileged and honored to recognize that. And I'm looking for the award. Thank you, Chief. That's why you're the Chief. Congratulations. I was very excited and nervous when I got approached and told that Senator Moody was going to do her Florida Finest. I was like, oh, that's exciting. I heard about it. I'm excited to see who she picks. And then when they told me it was me, the first thing out of my mouth is, oh, for real? For real, real? We're a small agency. Wouldn't she go to Orlando or other business? And they're like, nope, we're starting here. And my heart just jumped right out. I was like, oh, I'm very nervous, but I got this. It'll be fine. Oh, yeah. I mean, you've been under pressure. I mean, this is nothing, right? This is nothing. So take me back to that, when this happened, this 9-1-1 call happened, what was it that stood out to you that you needed to investigate further? Well, the fact that it never connected. As Senator Moody had said, it was a dropped 9-1-1, which means someone dialed 9-1-1, hit to send it, and then hung up before it connected to any phone line. And that was the day I was volunteering. I was in the dispatch, and I saw a little pin pop up on my map. And I just noticed that we don't get those often. I'm sure it could have been nothing, and it could have been a, oh, an accidental. But I've been trained to treat each call as if it will be an emergency, I should send someone. So I noticed it. I let my officer know that we received a dropped 9-1-1. I didn't get any kind of voice contact, but I was going to call them back and make sure everything was okay. On his, when he was en route to the destination, I received a second drop from the same phone in the same location. So I let him know going, all right, there was a second attempt. Still don't know why, but it's popping up. I try to call back, no one's picking up. And when he got there, he told me he found them. I'm like, great. And when you're in dispatch, you don't see what they see. You just have to listen and hear what they report back. And when he told me over the line that it was a domestic violence, I had a moment where I was like, that's why we went. That's why we need to go to these things because it could have been nothing. But the one time it was something, we treated it as if it was going to be an emergency.