I AM pleased Vic Emery, chairman of the Scottish Police Authority, felt moved to respond to my call for the need to deliver an effective and linked ICT system in support of the single police service (Letters, April 2).

Without one, officers and staff will maintain their current units, separated in terms of knowledge and management information due to a lack of ICT facilities, thereby negating the essence of what we are all trying to achieve in terms of an effective single service. If Mr Emery speaks to any member of the public trying to give information to the police, he will become aware of the frustrations people face. They are constantly being asked to repeat the same information to different police officers and staff who are trying their best to make do with antiquated or poorly thought-through technical solutions.

He rightly identifies four national ICT systems were provided for Scotland in the past 10 years. Had he been properly briefed he would have discovered that, as a senior police officer, I led teams that delivered two of them, the Criminal Histories System and the Scottish Intelligence Database. I have some understanding of the timelines involved and difficulties to be faced.

If we are all to be honest, the chairman would do well to acknowledge little progress has been made in the past five years in linking current national systems with the remaining databases to provide the breadth of information and intelligence vital to any law enforcement effort in this modern mobile world. As someone who has been positive in support of a single police service for more than a decade, I expect the Scottish Police Authority to deliver on its responsibilities in terms of new technology necessary to provide new levels of public safety.

My frustration is created by the slow pace of change in this regard, the resulting costs to the public purse and the evident lack of ambition over these past five years when preparations were being made for reform. I look forward to the brave new world just around the corner and trust the authority and the police service are ready for real reform and not merely a marginal change.

Graeme Pearson, Labour MSP,

The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh.

I WONDER if the arrival of the much-vaunted Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with its economies of scale will bring an end to a tableau I see enacted on the A90 most weekdays. I travel between Perth and Dundee about 9am and see a small procession of fire appliances travelling from Dundee towards Perth. These vary from a command vehicle to run-of-the-mill fire tenders.

On my return journey about 5pm I see a similar convoy making a return trip in the opposite direction.

Presuming a journey time of about half an hour each way and associated crew and fuel costs there must surely be a cheaper way of achieving whatever cover these vehicles provide as it seems to have been going on for years now. The vehicles appear to be fully crewed on both journeys.

If there is a logical operational reason for this I would love to hear it.

David Russell,

71 Charles Street,

Penicuik.

IT is always interesting to have a new take on a much-debated subject and Mark Smith's article on local government is a change from his usual beat in popular culture ("Why does Scotland need 32 councils?", The Herald, April 2).

However, the controversial merging of our eight police forces is not a wholly convincing argument for further reducing our already depleted number of councils.

Western political philosophers such as Rousseau, Mill and Madison distrusted autocratic central government, arguing that liberty is better served by small, democratic units.

During the last 40 years I have watched as strong, responsive and accountable local councils were emasculated and Scotland became Europe's most centralised nation.

An unintended consequence of devolution was the transfer of more power from local government to Edinburgh and if the independence campaign succeeds this centralisation can only get worse.

I am a Franco-Scot with an Anglo-Swedish wife and compared to the control my French relatives or Scandinavian in-laws have over their affairs, I am almost totally impotent.

Observing the way the Scottish Government rides rough-shod over local decisions on, say, wind farms makes it clear how little protection we have from central tyranny.

Dr John Cameron,

10 Howard Place,

St Andrews.