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uman rights watchdog Imparsial called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to dismiss National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo following a string of violent incidents involving members of the corps nationwide.

“Clearly, the President should evaluate the performance of the police force. It is only a year and a half since Timur became the national police chief and yet the police already have a record full of violence,” Imparsial executive director Poengky Indarti told a press conference on Wednesday.

The dismal record, Poengki said, included incidents in Papua where police dispersed participants attending the third Papuan People’s Congress, which resulted in the deaths of three civilians in October.

Imparsial also said the police were responsible for the mass killings in Mesuji, Lampung and in South Sumatra. More than 30 people were reported to have been killed in land conflicts since 2009.

The latest incident, in Sape, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, involved Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel shooting at close range protesters, who were demonstrating against the granting of a mining permit for an Australian-based company.

Imparsial said the National Police chief appeared to be doing nothing to deal with the violence from his corps.

“We see how time and again the police chief remains silent or defends the actions of his personnel instead of taking responsibility and conducting an evaluation,” Poengky said.

She said the police brutality was a throwback to the authoritarian Soeharto regime.

“Members of the police force are much more militaristic now than during the Soeharto era. Then, the police were still part of the military but, unfortunately, the same attitudes remain, despite entering the reform era,” she said.

Timur was appointed National Police chief in Oct. 22, 2010, as the President’s sole nomination for the position. Many deemed the appointment was based on political interest.

Numerous human rights groups have spoken out against Timur’s appointment given his bad track record during his junior years. He was the West Jakarta Police chief during the 1998 riots, when several Trisakti University students were shot dead by members of the riot police.

The organizations have also criticized Timur’s close relationship with the hard-line organization, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

Meanwhile, the National Police said on Wednesday that personnel handling the riot in Sape had violated standard operating procedures. “There must have been violations,” the head of the National Police internal affairs division, Brig. Gen. Budi Waseso, said as quoted by kompas.com.

Currently, the internal affairs division has questioned 58 personnel in connection with the Bima riot, including 27 members of Brimob and 17 members of the police crowd-control division.