Police Callsign Types
Call sign Format
With the exception of Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty police districts, who operate a different system, unit call signs follow this format:
- Two characters: indicating the home station, beat area or district in which the unit primarily operates.
- A character indicating the unit type.
- Up to three characters which uniquely identify the unit.
In the Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty police districts, unit call signs are five characters in length and follow this format:
- Two characters that identify the geographical area of responsibility.
- A letter and digit that identify the unit type.
- Unique identifier of the unit: Digit = supervisory/NCO level and above; Letter = others.
Examples:
- TNI3 Takapuna I-Car (general duties), late shift.
- SVM1 Auckland Motorways motorcycle unit, section 1.
- CMT8C Counties Manukau serious crash unit officer.
Home station
For a list of the home station codes, see Category:Police callsigns for a list of each region page with police callsigns.
Special callsigns
Occasionally non standard callsigns are used for special purposes.
| Callsign | Description |
|---|---|
| Zero Alpha | Armed Offender Squad incident control point |
| Northcomm Alpha | Shift Commander, Northern Comm Centre |
| Central Alpha | Shift Commander, Central Comm Centre |
| Southcomm Alpha | Shift Commander, Southern Comm Centre |
| AVSEC | Aviation Security Service pandemic response assistance team |
| DCC | District Command Center |
| JTOC | Auckland Transport Operations Centre |
| WNTOC | Wellington Transport Operations Centre |
Unit type
| Code | Description | Counties Manukau/BOP Areas |
|---|---|---|
| A | Commissioned Officer | Commissioned Officer |
| B | Beat Unit | Beat Unit |
| C | Crime Car/CIB Patrol | Crime Car/CIB Patrol |
| D | Dog Patrol (Delta) | Dog Patrol (Delta) |
| E | Uniform Enquiry Car | Reserved |
| F | Forensics (Fingerprints/Photos) | Forensics/SOCO |
| G | Logistics | Prosecutions |
| H | Highway Patrol Unit | Highway/Motorway Patrol Unit |
| I | Incident Patrol (I-Car) | Public Safety Team (Multi Crew) |
| J | Combined Investigative Unit | Public Safety Team (Single Crew) |
| K | Scene of Crime Officer (SOCO) | Reserved |
| L | Maritime Launch | Custody Unit/Support |
| M | Mounted Patrol (Motorcycle/Bicycle) | DCC Support/Intel Unit |
| N | Senior Sergeant | Senior Sergeant |
| O | Community Policing | Community Policing |
| P | Team Policing | Team Policing |
| Q | Single Crew Patrol (Q-Car) | Training |
| R | Rural Patrol Car | Road Crime Unit |
| S | Sergeant - Public Safety | Sergeant - Public Safety |
| T | Traffic Unit | Road Policing/SCU/CVST |
| U | Motorway Patrol Unit | Operation A |
| V | Sergeant - Traffic | Operation B |
| W | Special Traffic (Speed Cameras/CVST) | Maritime Launch/PNT/AOS/STG |
| X | General CIB | General CIB |
| Y | Youth Aid/Education | Major CIB |
| Z | Diplomatic/VIP/Witness Protection | Maori Warden/Camera Operator/Community Patrol |