The Toyama prefectural police in December 2012 arrested a 54-year-old assistant police inspector, Takeshi Kano, on suspicion of murdering an elderly couple who had been his friends for more than 30 years and of setting their residence afire in April 2010. He confessed to these heinous crimes. But in an unusual turn, the Toyama District Public Prosecutors Office on July 24 decided not to indict him due to lack of evidence.

The police must be criticized for their failure to follow the basic principle of collecting evidence before arresting a person. At the very least they must examine what went wrong and make public the results of their examination.

Saburo Fukuda, 79, a money lender, and his wife Nobuko, 75, were found dead after a fire broke out at their residence on the second floor of a building in Oizumi, Toyama City, on April 20, 2010. The Toyama prefectural police arrested Kano on Dec. 22, 2012, in connection with the murders and arson. He confessed that he strangled the couple with cords and started a fire after spreading kerosene in the residence. He also said that he started the fire to destroy evidence.