The heinous murder yesterday of a police officer has illustrated once more that there are some very serious issues that just can’t be resolved by simply going through the motions.

When terrorists are able to gather information on and get close enough to a member of one of the police force’s most elite squads, a policeman guarding what is possibly the only witness under the protection of the state in Greece, it is obvious that public order in the country has collapsed.

The first signs of this collapse became apparent last December, when groups of youths were free to rampage through the center of the capital for a week, breaking shop windows and setting fires, putting the city under siege. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis did not take the necessary measures at the time and introduce sweeping changes.

The current situation is the result of certain politicians, as well as police officers, who insist that there is nothing new going on. But, something is going on and something should be done before there is more bloodshed and the country suffers even more bad publicity abroad.