Newport Employee Named Police Dispatcher of the Year

A Newport Beach police dispatcher was recognized this week as the 2013 Dispatcher of the Year, police announced Friday.

Brian Eberhardt was honored Thursday by the California Public Safety Radio Association-Southern California Chapter at the 25th annual Telecommunicator Awards banquet. Eberhardt, who works as a communications training officer, was nominated by NBPD communications supervisor Wendy Koudelka who said he is "well-respected" among his peers.

“Brian creates a positive work environment and exemplifies our organizational values of integrity, empathy, service, excellence, responsibility and loyalty,” Koudelka said.

Eberhardt's excellence on the job has been measured through statistical data collected by the department's communications center. According to Lt. Jon Lewis, Eberhardt has won three awards for answering the most phone calls and two awards for entering the most calls into the computerized dispatch system.

He has also received numerous commendations from community members via telephone calls, letters and emails, Lewis said.

"This demonstrates his ability to be flexible in task assignments when dealing with his normal routine calls, emergency calls, and taking on training of new employees," Lewis explained. 

Eberhardt was also selected as the Newport Beach Police Department’s 2012 Dispatcher of the Year. He began his career as a police dispatcher in 2002 at the Riverside Police Department. He was hired by Newport Beach in 2003 as a community services officer in the Records Division.

In 2012 the Newport Beach Police Department Communications Center received over 216,000 calls, of which 69,143 resulted in a police response, and 39,635 were emergency 911 calls, Lewis said.

The Newport Beach Police Department has 14 full-time dispatchers, two part-time dispatchers and one communications supervisor.