The United States has donated US$1 million for a training and assistance program for the Dominican National Police. This brings to US$1.5 million the donations the U.S. government has made to improve the police, said US Ambassador Hans Hertell during a ceremony where the additional funds were announced. Signing for the Dominican government were Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda Rancier and Chief of the Police, Major General Bernardo Santana Paez. Hertell explained that the program began last May and includes the training of new recruits in the new penal procedures code.