In an annual total of around 7,900,000 calls, only 35 percent were actually emergency calls, PSP said in a statement. "The other calls mostly originate from pocket dials, prank calls, or simple ignorance of the purpose of the 112 service", says the PSP. The 112 Service comprises the National Coordination Center and four Operational Centers (North, South, Azores and Madeira), which is part of the National Directorate of PSP. The Operational Centres guarantee the service at the regional level for calls to 112, performing the sorting and referral to the security forces, medical support, fire, among others.

The PSP states emergencies for 112 are those involving people at risk of life, in immediate need of medical assistance, crimes that have occurred or that have just happened, serious incidents (floods, forest fires, serious road accidents) and the discovery of lost children and seniors, adherent to the PSP programs "I am here Children" and "I am Here Adults", to communicate their location and number of their bracelet. "In any other situation the citizen should directly contact the police station or local fire department", the PSP stated

With regard to the school programs, the PSP said that through "Safe School", from 2017 to today, the police brought information about the 112 service to about 44,000 students and 1,200 teachers and educational support staff, contributing to a better use of this emergency support. "In order to contribute to the inclusion of all citizens, 112 also has a service dedicated to deaf citizens "MAI112" that already has hundreds of users", according to PSP. In the statement, the police also state that the creation of a relief number in Portugal dates back to 13 October, 1965, with the availability of the first national distress number (115), whose management was under the PSP and which is maintained to this day. It also recalls that Portugal was one of the first countries in Europe to provide its citizens with an emergency contact means through a dedicated, short and easy-to-memorize telephone number. To mark this, the European Emergency Number Association (EENA112) has launched a campaign of thanks to the emergency services for all their commitment and dedication, of which the PSP is one. Citizens will be able to join the campaign by sharing on social media using the hashtags #112Day2021 and #thankyouchain and identifying EENA and PSP.