Do you know how to phone the police? It might seem like the most basic question which even a three-year-old could answer, but in reality it's not as simple as it sounds.

The matter was raised at a recent meeting of Fermanagh District Policing Partnership when it became apparent that, despite a concerted effort to 'market' a new central phoneline for all police stations in Northern Ireland, the message simply has not been received.

The matter was raised by Councillor John O'Kane. He asked Chief Inspector Alywin Barton to outline the procedure for contacting a police station.

Mr O'Kane explained that on a number of occasions he had tried to phone Irvinestown Police Station but found that when the Station was closed, there was no diverting of calls to an operating station, nor even an answering machine message with an alternative number or where a caller could leave a message.

Mr O'Kane asked what a caller should do in these circumstances when there was a lack of response from Police?

Chief Inspector Barton explained that the PSNI had made considerable effort to market the introduction of the non-emergency number, 0845 600 8000 introduced two years ago.

"This replaces all other numbers for ringing stations directly. The emergency number remains '999'.