The Chicago Police Department says a campaign to increase diversity in its ranks has resulted in a 13 percentage point jump in minority applicants.
The department says about 70% of the 14,000 would-be officers in a recent pool of applicants are black, Hispanic or Asian.
To recruit more minority applicants, the department visited community events throughout the city and produced ads in Spanish and English.
The minority recruitment drive is part of the department's efforts to restore the public's trust. Which was badly damaged by recent cases of alleged misconduct against blacks, including the 2014 killing of a black teenager shot 16 times by a white officer.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says building a force representative of the city's diversity is essential to restoring trust.
