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Read the press release here.

Want To Be A Police Officer? Apply Aug. 15 (And Make $72K After 1½ Years)

 Mayor Rahm Emanuel has asked Chicagoans from all walks of life to consider joining the Police Department.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has asked Chicagoans from all walks of life to consider joining the Police Department.
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DNAinfo/Heather Cherone

BRIDGEPORT — The effort to significantly expand the size of the Chicago Police Department is "moving ahead nonstop," Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Monday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has promised to add 970 positions to the Police Department by the end of 2018: 516 police officers, 200 detectives, 112 sergeants, 50 lieutenants and 92 field training officers. The department also will fill 500 vacant positions.

Starting pay for police officers is $48,078 — and it jumps to $72,510 after 1½ years.

Prospective police officers can apply to the department starting Aug. 15. The final day to apply is Oct. 15, officials said.

The test to get into the police academy is scheduled to take place Dec. 16 and Dec. 17 at McCormick Place.

That exam will be the second this year.

Johnson said the exam would "ensure that we have the manpower necessary to carry out necessary changes and hold offenders accountable."

The new officers will be charged with turning back the surge of violence that swept the city in 2016 and has shown no sign of abating.

The new recruits will help the department become more diverse "and better reflect the 77 communities" in Chicago, Johnson said.

The Police Department is now 48.5 percent white, 27.5 percent black, 20.7 percent Hispanic and 2.5 percent Asian, based on data provided by the city. Chicago as a whole is 32.2 percent white, 31.5 percent black, 28.9 percent Hispanic and 5.7 percent Asian, according to the 2014 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census.

Emanuel acknowledged in January that his administration would have to work "double hard" to persuade black and Latino Chicagoans to join a police force that federal officials found has routinely used excessive force against minorities and tolerated "racially discriminatory conduct" by officers.

READ THE FULL U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORT HERE

Construction of a state-of-the-art $95 million training facility for Chicago police and fire recruits is expected to start next year and take two years to complete.