The closure of 30 police stations throughout New Zealand has saved a cash-strapped police force $3 million, but the police union is warning of trouble ahead.

The Police Association says funding is nearing a critical point and "re-centralisation" could see public confidence erode to levels not seen since the early 1990s.

On April 6, Fairfax revealed that since 2009, 30 stations had closed, or closure was imminent.

Police have now released that list of stations - many of them community shop fronts in outlying or poorer areas.

And as a five-year budget freeze continues to bite, the force has been quietly been reviewing its 400 "public facing" properties - which includes stations and community policing centres.

Some of the stations shut down are in Otara and Mangere, in South Auckland, and Porirua, Lower Hutt and Miramar in the Wellington region.

Six Auckland community offices and kiosks were closed to centralise staff to Ponsonby station, while the entire Auckland Downtown Station was relocated to Auckland Central.

In Wellington, the Cuba street station was also axed - its staff shifted to Police National Headquarters.

The stations have closed as the Government aims to cut total crime by 25 per cent by 2017.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Grant Nicholls said the total exercise saved about $3 million, which had been reinvested to put more police on the ground.

But with resources thinly-stretched, response times to 111 calls have slowed.

Police say the blow is softened by putting more officers on the street. And they say 16 facilities were opened or upgraded. Police districts were "changing the way they operate," using technology, changing opening hours and freeing up frontline officers". They were no longer expected to spend large amounts of time in a building behind a desk.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said more police on the ground was only a positive, but the move was symptomatic of bigger budgeting problems.

"These are the ones that have closed, but there's a lot more that are highly under-utilised because quite simply there's just not the staff to put in them. The impact of the shutting of these stations is to local communities," he said.

"It is the prerogative for politicians to do what they will with their money, however, there will be consequences... and police are in a similar place to where they were in the 1990s."

A budget freeze, which has been hanging over police since 2010, is unlikely to thaw when Finance Minister Bill English delivers his seventh Budget on May 21.

"Something's got to give, and more will give. But these [station closures] you'll find don't happen in politically sensitive areas, no mattter what Government is in charge."

The trade-off was that response times in emergencies would likely improve with the centralisation, O'Connor said.

Figures show response times to 111 calls grew longer in the last year and fell below targets.

In 2012-13, 91 per cent of calls to the 111-communications centres were answered within 10 seconds. This fell to 88 per cent the next year - two points below a performance benchmark.

Last year 81 per cent of non-emergency calls were answered within 30 seconds, a drop of two percentage points on 2012-13 - but still above the 80 per cent "performance standard".

The full list:

1. Otahuhu (474 Great South Rd) - Staff relocated to 482 Great South Road

2. Te Rapa community base - Staff relocated to Hamilton North Community Policing Centre

3. Masterton (Chapel St) - Staff relocated to Masterton Staion

4. Orewa community base - Staff relocated to Orewa Station

5. Auckland downtown station - Staff relocated to Auckland Central Station

6. Blockhouse Bay kiosk - Staff relocated to Ponsonby Station

7. Grey Lynn community office - Staff relocated to Ponsonby Station

8. Mt Albert kiosk Staff relocated to Ponsonby Station

9. St Lukes kiosk - Staff relocated to Ponsonby Station

10. Pt Chevalier kiosk - Staff relocated to Ponsonby Station

11. Mangere (short-term temporary lease only) - Staff relocated to Otahuhu Station

12. Hastings (Jack Coggington House) - Staff relocated to Old Courthouse, Hastings

13. Porirua (Healthcare House) - Staff relocated to PNHQ and RNZPC

14. Porirua (Hartham Pl) - Staff relocated to Porirua Station

15. Otara station - Staff relocated to Ormiston Station

16. Papatoetoe - Staff relocated to Otahuhu Station

17. Hamilton (Lockwood House) - Staff relocated to Hamilton Central Station

18. Otahuhu (111 Great South Road) - Staff relocated to Otahuhu Station and 482 Great South Rd

19. Whakatane (Boon St) - Staff relocated to Whakatane Station

20. Wellington (Cuba St) - Staff relocated to PNHQ

21. Auckland prosecutions - Staff relocated to Auckland Central Station

22. Waitemata District HQ - Staff relocated to North Shore Station

23. Tauranga (Durham Ct) - Staff relocated to Tauranga Station

24. New Plymouth (Atkinson bldg) - Staff relocated to New Plymouth Station

25. Nawton community base - Staff relocated to Hamilton East Community Policing Centre

26. Melville community base - Staff relocated to Hamilton East Community Policing Centre

27. Greymouth (Albert Tauwhere Complex) - this was a temporary base for staff working on the Pike River inquiry who returned to their previous offices

28. Christchurch (Sir William Pickering Dr) - this was a temporary base for staff working on the Pike River inquiry who returned to their previous offices

29. Miramar (closed due to earthquake damage) - in process of being disposed of - staff relocated to Kilbirnie Station

30. Lower Hutt (Kings Cr) - in process of being disposed of - staff relocated to Lower Hutt Station