Commercial activity continues to increase along the main avenues of Santo Domingo as the government pays out some RD$7 billion this week. Reporters from El Nuevo Diario toured several parts of the city on Sunday, 9 December and found large crowds of shoppers in the big stores on Duarte Avenue. However, they also discovered a notable lack of Police presence, despite Saturday’s announcement by the National Police Chief that he was going to put 20,000 men and women on the streets, including members of the Armed Forces. His move was just one more measure to reduce the number of robberies committed at this time of the year.