The Bay of Plenty average response time is 25m 25s.
Bay of Plenty district commander Superintendent Glenn Dunbier said police were continually looking at ways in which they could improve their customer service.
"Our response to emergency calls is just one element of the service we provide, so whilst it's pleasing to be under the national average it's important to remember that it is not the sole indicator of the level to which we assist people in an emergency situation," he said.
"It is an element of our business affected by factors outside of our control, such as the weather and demands for service, and we have to ensure that the speed in which we respond does not put staff and other road users at risk."
Mr Dunbier said the main focus of police was to prevent crime to reduce the number of calls for service that require an emergency response.
Priority-one (or P1) events are deemed "urgent" and require an immediate police response.
An event is coded P1 when there is a threat to life or property and is still happening, when violence is being used or threatened, when a serious offence is being committed and the offender is present or leaving the scene, or when there is a serious vehicle crash.
The top five events likely to be coded as P1 are family violence incidents, traffic crashes or incidents, people acting suspiciously in cars or on foot, and disorder.
In rural areas, police responded to 84 per cent of P1 incidents within 30 minutes, and 90 per cent of 111 calls were responded to within 39m 44s.
A police national headquarters official said events were coded when the call was received at the communications centre.
"The call-taker determines whether the event is a P1, based on the criteria. The call-taker inputs information from the caller into a computer system which is then dispatched to the relevant frontline police unit."
Once police arrived at the scene, they responded regardless of what priority the event was, the official said.
Police planning and performance national manager Mike Webb said P1 calls "are about actual offences - robberies, assaults, homicides etc - but also incidents where an emergency response is needed but no offence has been committed, such as earthquakes, flooding and other weather-related events and some crashes or other incidents on motorways or highways".
There were several reasons police response times varied between urban areas, and were slower than the national response time in some places, Mr Webb said.
"These include the influence of an increasing population - more people create more calls for service."
Other factors were the distance to the event and traffic congestion.
Mr Webb said 111 calls were not included in the official crime statistics until police attended the scene and determined whether an offence had occurred and, if so, what type of offence it was.
Last year, New Zealand's three police communications centres received 1.7 million phone calls, which included 700,000 emergency calls.
Police response times for urban areas:
Northland: 26m
Waitemata: 31m 24s
Auckland: 31m 17s
Counties Manukau: 35m 15s
Waikato: 30m 47s
Bay of Plenty: 25m 25s
Eastern: 18m 32s
Central: 17m 30s
Wellington: 18m 23s
Tasman: 21m 5s
Canterbury: 28m 6s
Southern: 20m 21s
