The Chief of Police, Bernardo Santana Paez, announced that he would seek the addition of 2,000 more men and women for the National Police in his 2006 budget. Santana Paez told reporters that these agents would help in the battle against crime. As he came out of his meeting with budget officials at the Presidential Palace, the police chief said that his team had recovered 1,040 police officers who had been working for private entities, and that these would now be used for foot patrols. He added that there would be no problem getting 25,000 police out onto the streets for the Safe Christmas program. According to El Caribe there were 25,000 police agents working the streets as part of that program this past week. However, Hoy newspaper reported that there were 16,000 agents on patrol, and that many of the cops who will be patrolling in December are administrative staff who will be assigned to the streets.