Police have three Communications Centres based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Communication Centres handle three types of calls:

• 111 emergency calls - when urgent, immediate assistance is required.
• Non-emergency or 'general' calls - reporting less urgent incidents that have happened a while ago and don't need an immediate police response.
• *555 calls for reporting traffic issues.

In total Police Communications Centres handle an average of 33,000 emergency, general and *555 calls every week. The number of calls is going up every year.