Dunedin-Clutha area commander Inspector Dave Campbell said mainly non-sworn staff had been working the temporary communications centre in the Dunedin central police station, in pairs on eight-hour shifts around the clock since February 22.
Police staff in the Southern police district are usually dispatched from the southern communications centre in Christchurch's central police station, but the centre went off-line the day of the quake.
All 111 calls were immediately redirected to the northern communications centre in Auckland.
Calls requiring a police response from southern district staff were then redirected to Dunedin, from where police staff across the region were dispatched.
Communications were returned to the Christchurch centre at 4pm on Thursday.
The experience had been useful to Dunedin staff, Insp Campbell said, and there would be a debriefing next to see what might have been done differently or better.
A large contingent of southern police staff had returned to the south after assisting in Christchurch after the quake.
He said about eight Dunedin staff, mainly from the traffic unit, were still working in Christchurch and about that many at any one time would be working in Christchurch for the next few months at least, he said.
