Communications Centres

The Communications Centres (Comms) receive 111 and non-emergency calls and dispatch police to jobs. We provide the critical link between the public and frontline policing.

Police have Communications Centres in Auckland, Kāpiti, Wellington and Christchurch and report to a national manager at Police National Headquarters in Wellington. There are five centres, which receive about 60,000 calls a week – that's 3.6 million calls a year.

Communications Centres handle:

• 111 emergency calls – when urgent assistance is needed
• non-emergency calls – reporting less urgent incidents that don't need an immediate police response (including calls to *555, 105 and the Crime Reporting Line).

Calls from New Zealand Police

These numbers are used for outbound calls only and cannot receive incoming calls from the public.

If you call either number, you will hear a recorded message advising that calls are not accepted and directing you to the appropriate Police contact channels.

Please continue to use 111 and 105 to contact New Zealand Police.

Our staff

More than 700 staff work across the five centres in a range of roles such as communicators, dispatchers, section managers, team leaders, shift commanders, workforce analysts, intelligence analysts, trainers, IT and administrative support. We operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

All of our centres have business continuity plans and back-up capability, which means if one of the centres is operating at full capacity, or unable to operate due to an emergency situation, other centres can help by picking up the work.

Our professionally trained staff have access to vital information to assist with emergencies and non-emergencies throughout New Zealand.

Become a police communicator

Police communicators handle calls about burglaries, family violence, disputes, fights, crashes, armed robberies, search and rescues, homicides, dangerous driving, missing children, thefts and many other incidents.

Communicators find out what's happening and where, decide on the right police response and send information through to the police dispatchers who are responsible for getting police units on their way.

Communicators work in a collaborative work environment in which colleagues, team leaders and managers provide support, guidance and advice throughout the shift.

Are you quick at gathering and analysing information and keen to help people who need police assistance? Perhaps you are looking for a stepping stone to becoming a police officer? Working as a police communicator could be the job for you.

111 - a call to action
See how our teams work with each other and with you to make safer communities together.
Playing time: 2 minutes 49 seconds

Become a police communicator
We need people with excellent communication skills, who can keep a cool head when the pressure’s on. Will you help make New Zealand the safest country?
Playing time: 19 seconds

Emergency Caller Location Information

When you dial 111 from a mobile phone, data that helps determine the location of your handset is automatically sent to the Emergency Caller Location Information system (ECLI). The system is overseen by SafetyNet Critical Communications Ltd (SafetyNet). This data is provided by your mobile network operator (for all device types) and by supported Android or iOS smartphones.

The Emergency Caller Location Information system turns that data into information about your handset's likely location. Authorised emergency service agencies (Fire and Emergency New Zealand, New Zealand Police, Hato Hone St John, and Wellington Free Ambulance) are allowed to use this location information to help verify where you are calling from, so they can respond to the emergency as quickly as possible.

The Device Location Information (DLI) service builds on the existing Emergency Caller Location Information service (ECLI). DLI allows emergency services to request a phone’s location if:

• there hasn’t been a 111 call from the device, or where a 111 call has ended unexpectedly, and
• there’s a situation deemed to be a serious threat to a person’s life or health as reported by someone else, for example, a friend or family member.
• many calls to 111 are made by people concerned about others who are not with them, for example, someone who is lost, missing or threatening self-harm.

DLI helps emergency services respond faster and more effectively in these situations.

The provision of this information is authorised by the Privacy Commissioner, via the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code 2020.

Find out more about the Emergency Caller Location Information system on SafetyNet’s website.