Jakarta – While the police should be at the front of enforcing the law, thousands of officers are involved in abuse of power and criminal acts, hampering the much-needed law enforcement in the country.

National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said that the force had imposed fines on 3,416 officers involved in various violations and criminal acts during 2009.

He said that such troubled officers were involved in, among others, adultery, illegal drugs, robbery and shooting cases. "Whoever is involved in violations, will be handed stricter fines," he said in a year-end report Wednesday.

Out of the 3,416 fined police, 365 officers were given unhonorable discharge from the force this year, far higher compared to 252 in 2008.

The police said that 1,729 officers were given disciplinary fines. Four-hundred-and-forty-four violated the professional code of ethics while the remaining were charged with criminal offenses.

They said that 144 officers were involved in adultery cases and 45 in robberies.

The year-end report usually features crime statistics and highlights the achievements made throughout the year, from the number of cases that have been successfully solved by the police to the number of officers involved in criminal activities.

National Police deputy chief spokesman Brig. Gen Sulistyo Ishak earlier said the Internal Affairs Division investigated 5,464 disciplinary cases this year, lower than 7,035 cases in 2008.

He said that for criminal cases, the police had 1,084 cases this year, a decrease on last year's figure of 1,164 criminal investigations.

Bambang said that the police had killed or arrested hundreds of terrorist suspects this year, including terror leader Noordin M. Top of Malaysia, Saefudin Zuchri and Noordin's father-in-law Baharudin Latif, alias Baridin, who was arrested in Garut regency, West Java.

Bambang claimed the force continued to step up both internal and external supervision to increase police officer discipline.

He said external supervision was conducted by independent institutions, including the National Police Commission, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and a number of civic groups such as the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Bambang, who was appointed to replace Gen. Sutanto in 2008, has promised to push for an institutional reform within the police force to improve the police image.

National Police Commission member Novel Ali questioned the reform efforts at the police institution. "Bureaucratic reform has not been fully implemented in the police force," he said.

He also criticized the police concerning its reported lack of transparency and its poor response to public protests. "It causes public trust of the police to decrease," he said.

Another commission member, Adnan Pandupraja also criticized the half-hearted reform of the police institution, saying it did not reach to the heart of the issues.