In total, four reception centers will be constructed to house the police and emergency service operators. The first building, located in Jõhvi, will be ready by 2012; the centers in Tallinn and Tartu will start service in 2013.

The transition to a single emergency number will reach its final stage by 2014 when the fourth center, to be built in Pärnu, will be finished.

Although the state is planning to completely phase out the 110 number in the next three years, people who still dial it will not be left without help, as the calls will be automatically transferred to 112.

"Currently, when 112 receives an emergency call, it is not competent to decide whether the police is also needed [at the scene]. So the emergency centers forward the information to the [police operators] who will send out law enforcement officers,” Andrus Kroon, deputy head of the Information and Analysis Department at the Ministry of the Interior, told Postimees.

However, communication problems tend to arise between the police and emergency center operators, meaning that sometimes law enforcement or rescuers are called out when in fact there is no need for them, Kroon said.

Ingrid Teesalu