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Mr Mark Dunn
Chairman
Sussex Police Authority
County Hall
St Anne's Crescent
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 1SW
22 February 2004
Dear Mr Dunn
Thank you for your standardised letter in reply to my concerns regarding the implementation of TETRA communication by Sussex Police.
I'm sure you didn't read my letter (you have others who can do that, and then send your standard letter out, suitably addressed. I'm sure they are a bit of a nuisance.)
I don't want to be a nuisance, but I do live in this area, and you do represent my Police Authority, to whom I pay a good deal in local tax to do a good job. A colleague described you as "intransigent" over the TETRA issue, but I'm quite sure you are more intelligent than that.
Well, that's you and me. What about TETRA? You quoted Prof. Challis, then so shall I:
"We cannot say there is no risk. You could never say that. All you can do is take measures to reduce those risks.
"The Government doesn't want to hear that message. They want us to say that masts are completely safe and aren't dangerous, but we can't say that."
It's a bit different from repeating the incorrect assertion that base stations (proliferating in densely residential areas) do not emit pulsed radiation (they clearly do in all practical tests and measurements).
Health
Since the government has seen fit to award research contracts covering some of the aspects of health concern, then the assessment that there is a potential risk has already been made. The trouble is, this is safety testing while TETRA is running live. This is testing on the residents you and your fellow Police Authority chairs are there to protect. Do you really not worry that, should research show that 17.4Hz electromagnetic radiation does compromise the health and well-being of some people, that your decision to accept TETRA could result in your being sued at very great expense?
Well, maybe that doesn't worry you, but I did expect a man in your position would have a social conscience. As such, you would be concern merely that people were worried, let alone that anything might actually present a risk to them.
Cost
But maybe you worry about money? That too is part of the job to which you have been appointed. I am concerned as a council tax payer that the Airwave contract was awarded without tender and in contravention of EC guidelines. I am concerned that TETRAPOL was available, tested, available and much cheaper. I am paying for your untested TETRA.
Function
How well will it work? Are you confident? I am concerned that unless the whole of the UK is swathed in TETRA masts every 5 miles or so, you will not have the system you thought you had. The fewer antennae, the greater the power emitted, the worse your WHO figures look in defence, the less you can transmit data, and the poorer your coverage.
Mr Dunn, you had better be sure that you have all three of these aspects absolutely right, or you will have failed the people you are appointed and paid to serve. Your letter indicates that you have no concerns, and no shows no interest in what residents of Sussex are actually thinking and feeling. What action are you taking to ensure that these three aspects can honestly and openly meet the concerns of your employees and residents?
Yours sincerely
Andy Davidson
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