Applications For Police Jobs Surge In The Wake Of Dallas Police Shootings

DALLAS, TX — In a note of unity after the tragic shooting of police in Dallas earlier this month, the city's police chief offered those critical of police a novel alternative to protesting: Apply for a law enforcement job.

"We're hiring," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said during a post-ambush news conference during which he was palpably reflective. "Get off that protest line and put in an application. We'll put you in your neighborhood and help you resolve some of those problems."

It appears that people have heeded his call.

In a recent Facebook post, authorities said applications for police jobs have surged in the days following the downtown shooting. From July 8 — one day after the shootings — to July 20, the police department has received 487 applications. Crunching the numbers, that's about 39 applications per day.

Applications filled out in the days following the police shootings are also exponentially greater than a comparable period the month prior. From June 8 to June 20, 138 applications had been filled out, or about 11 per day.

All told, there has been a 344 percent increase in applications submitted since the tragedy that claimed the lives of five Dallas police officers, according to the DPD statistics. In an added note, police said, "applications are steadily flowing in daily" since the shooting.

The upsurge also comes at a time when the DPD has seen an exodus of officers taking jobs at other cities offering greater pay, the Washington Post reported. Some 240 officers left the force in fiscal year 2015, according to the Dallas Morning News.

In June alone, nearly 50 officers quit the Dallas Police Department for other North Texas cities where starting pay is roughly $8,000 more, the newspaper reported. The overall turnover rate in the 3,500-officer force was 6.8 percent during last fiscal year — the highest in the chief's six years at the helm and the highest since the 1980s, according to the published report.

One of those wishing to fill out an application to become a cop will have to wait a while. But his intentions got the attention of President Barack Obama, who mentioned him during a memorial for the fallen officers.

After police on the scene of what began as a peaceful rally came to the aid of Shetamia Taylor — using her body to shield her young sons from gunfire — she expressed her gratitude to police in a subsequent news conference. As Obama noted, her 12-year-old son was inspired by the courage he saw that day from police officers.

"The police helped Shetamia Taylor as she was shot trying to shield her four sons," Obama said. "She said she wanted her boys to join her to protest the incidents of black men being killed. She also said to the Dallas PD, 'Thank you for being heroes.' And today, her 12-year-old son wants to be a cop when he grows up. That’s the America I know."