Pitkin County emergency dispatch director sees national recognition

A high performing 911 center and positive workplace culture don’t have to be mutually exclusive. 

That’s the philosophy proven by Director of Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center Brett Loeb, who was just recognized nationally as the 2025 Public Safety Answering Point Finest Director of the Year by NiCE Public Safety — an organization that recognizes emergency communications excellence. 

“When I started 18 years ago, that almost seemed like an impossibility,” Loeb said of his entry into emergency dispatch elsewhere in the region and the ability to combine good workplace culture with high performance.

But in his nearly nine years with Pitkin County emergency dispatch, he’s managed to cut a 30% annual attrition rate to close to zero, leading an office that has retained almost its entire staff for the past two years, according to a press release that announced his recognition on Friday. 

“What we kind of decided to do is really look at every decision that we make through the lens of — how is this going to help our dispatchers?” he said. 

Loeb worked to stray from the “paramilitary” style sometimes present in dispatch centers, instead taking a dispatcher-friendly approach.

“Give them buy in, give them say in the decisions,” he said. 

He also focused on leveraging technology to allow dispatchers to focus on the areas where they can have the most impact. He said one of the most influential technologies for dispatchers has been the advent of Artificial Intelligence transcription and translation services, which can transcribe, translate, and summarize 911 calls. 

Now, instead of focusing on the parts of the job that are more secretarial, these technologies allow dispatchers to focus on how to best help people and handle emergencies. 

“It allows them to focus on the 10% that is really the ‘Hey, what questions do I need to ask? What information do I need to pass on? How can I best summarize this and focus on the emergencies?'” Loeb said, “You know, ‘If I need to coach CPR, I can jump into that a lot faster because I’m not sitting there having to think about the next questions or type the answers out.'”

He said dispatchers have had to instruct CPR, help choking victims, and deliver babies over the phone. 

“They can get to the part of their job that is the most valuable, and that’s making the critical decisions,” he said. 

Tiffany Tittes, operations manager for Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center, said she first met Loeb at a dispatch training years before she worked with him.

“And he just stands out. He’s such a positive person, and I think he really carries that into everything,” Tittes said, who came to work for Pitkin County emergency dispatch this past January. “But he’s also really calm.”

She added that Loeb focuses on improving mental health resources for dispatchers and ensuring they get the recognition they deserve.

Loeb said receiving the award, which is given to just one emergency dispatch director annually, is a “huge honor,” but he credits the work of his team. 

“Because they’re the ones that do all the work,” he said, “and have been able to prove out this philosophy that we can have a really high performing 911 center and a positive culture at the same time.”

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.