The Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 lists the legal defences the emergency services have when undertaking urgent duty driving, he said.
Police Association vice-president Luke Shadbolt said the numbers were not unusual.
"Those figures don't surprise me. Usually about two-thirds get waived and about a third paid."
Police officers were treated the same as members of the public when it came to speeding.
"The only ones that get waived these days are the ones for urgent priority one events," he said.
"We've got to justify it just like anyone else if we're going over the speed limit."
Priority one events include burglaries where the offenders were still in the house or violent assaults that were taking place at the time of the call-out, he said.
Speeding tickets were issued to the police officer who was driving and they were required to prove to the road policing manager, through records on the police computer system or their own notebook, they were attending an urgent job.
Mr Shadbolt said officers who did not provide an appropriate excuse were expected to pay the fine and were issued demerit points.
"Thirty-eight tickets for the whole of the Bay of Plenty, I would have thought that's quite reasonable considering the cars are on the road 24/7 and responding to urgent events on a fairly regular basis."
Police officers were given a very clear message about speeding, Mr Shadbolt said.
"The number one rule is you have to get to the job so there's no point driving 100 miles an hour and risking having an accident and actually not getting there. You're better to slow down and get there 10 seconds later."
The 2011 figures are down slightly on the year before when 53 tickets were issued with 33 waived and 20 paid.
Stuff.co.nz reported nearly 2000 police vehicles were snapped speeding in 2010 and 2011 - 60 per cent more than in the two previous years.
Of the 1856 police vehicles caught nationally, 927 fines were paid. Nearly all other tickets were waived.
