Malaysia is beefing up its police force by recruiting 23,000 people over the next two years to cope with "increasing workload," local media said Sunday.

"We want to increase the number of rank-and-file members and officers because the police workload is getting increasingly heavy," Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted as saying by the Star.

Some 4,000 personnel have been selected and would undergo training soon, he said.

Facilities at existing training centres would be upgraded and new centres built, Abdullah said.