Dallas PD Applications Up 344%

Police chief put out a call for recruits after massacre
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2016 12:33 PM CDT
Dallas PD Applications Up 344%
An American flag with the words "God Bless Dallas" written on it sits at a makeshift memorial in front of the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department Tuesday, July 19, 2016, in Dallas.    (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

After five police officers were murdered in Dallas July 7, applications to join the city's police force are up 344%, CNN reports. Four days after the shootings, the city's police chief urged Black Lives Matter protesters to join the force if they wanted to see changes. "We're hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in," he said. From June 8 to June 20, there were 136 applications submitted to the department; from July 8 to July 20, there were 467. As CNN notes, the department has been beset by morale problems for years, partially due to its low starting pay of less than $45,000 per year. In other parts of Texas, starting pay ranges from $52,176 to $63,757. (More Dallas police shooting stories.)

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