In the wake of a fatal July shooting of five Dallas police officers, Dallas Police Chief David Brown had advice for protesters criticizing police brutality: Apply to be an officer yourself.
"We're hiring," Brown told the crowd on July 9. "I'm not the kind of person who'd protest or complain. I'd do something about it."
Since his speech, applications to the Dallas police force have increased by 344 percent, according to statistics posted to the Dallas PD's Facebook page on July 22.
The number of applications submitted between July 8-20—during the immediate aftermath of the shooting—more than tripled, increasing to 40 per day, up from 11 per day during the same period in June.
Before the shooting, Brown struggled with a force that saw some of the highest turnover rates since the 1980s, according to a Washington Postreport. The Dallas force employs 3,500 officers and had a 6.8 percent turnover rate during fiscal year 2015.
A spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department did not immediately return Complex's request for comment about how many new hires the department has as a result of the influx in applications.
