And, in the case of the national police's latest scandal — over their collossally irresponsible (or worse) raid on billionaire suspect Radovan Krejčíř's home June 18 — certainly called for.

The story of Krejčíř's escape, which changes daily it seems, probably was in its most literary form when the news first broke: that, during a police raid of his house, in which billions of suspiciously acquired crowns were seized, the fraud and murder suspect crawled out a bathroom window after having his handcuffs removed so he could go to the toilet.

Justice Ministry officials and Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek, to their credit, were just a bit suspicious of the story and demanded a better explanation. In the latest draft, the implication of a payoff is a little more emphasized, but with the diverting detail thrown in that the billions found have turned out to be mostly counterfeit.

The story still doesn't quite add up, of course, because the 2.95 billion counterfeit crowns said to have been found, as journalist Erik Best points out, would signify one of the biggest busts of funny money in history.

Whatever the final version turns out to be, it's clear that the public has little reason to believe national police are serious or effective at fighting high-powered, high-level crime. The removal of Police Chief Jiří Kolář, who had managed to hang on to his post despite his department's long string of scandals (see "Law & Disorder," page 1), is certainly a step in the right direction. The sacking of most of the officers involved and their supervisors is yet another sound move.

But until serious reforms and housecleaning are mandated from the top, none of this seems likely to change much.

Much talk around the halls of Parliament suggests that, with former Prime Minister Stanislav Gross gone, there may finally be a real opportunity to clean house at the arm of the state long used to supreme power — and to police work that serves political masters. On the 55th anniversary of the hanging of one of the greatest Czech martyrs to the police state, Milada Horáková, the time for leaders in league with incompetent or corrupt police should be at an end.