The Dallas Police Department, which was struggling to recruit officers, has seen a surge in job applications after the ambush shooting in July that killed five officers and brought global attention to the Texas city, officials said on Friday. During the 12 days following the July 7 shooting, the department said it got 467 job applications, a 344% increase compared with the 136 in a similar period in June. Potential officers in the north Texas region have often opted for departments in fast-growing cities surrounding Dallas where starting pay is typically higher than in Dallas. In recent months, the police department has had to cancel academy classes because there were not enough applicants. That is an average of 38.9 requests per day to become a police recruit compared with an average of 11.3 submissions a day for 12 days in June.

Source: dna July 23, 2016 03:56 UTC