Destroying the evidence Police can't be trusted to clean their own house. --The Asahi Shimbun / IHT -- May 21, 2004 Important account documents that possibly contained evidence of police slush funds were destroyed at 10 police organizations-including the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency's Kyushu regional bureau-despite an agency order to preserve them. ... ...Fraud and abuse inside police organizations undermines the integrity of law-enforcement authorities and causes a gradual erosion in morale on the front line. That eventually will shake the very foundations of public safety. This is a crucial moment for the credibility of Japan's police forces.