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Miami Police Department Sees Record Number of Applications In Hours

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The Miami Police Department is not hiring, at least not since a flood of applicants forced them to close off the process within hours. The reason? Possibly because of the departments' cult following on social media.

"Had a DJ up top, kind of like an Ultra [Music Festival] feel, on top of the world, on top of the building, and also encompass that, Vice City, Grand Theft Auto riding, you know our target demographic is gonna be that era," Miami Police Officer Nick Perez said.

Officer Perez is talking about his latest production, and he runs the social media unit. He knows, around the country police applications have been down, so he had work cut out for him.

"For example one of the VLOGs example Nick was dancing, in the middle of Wynwood at that point, he wasn't a cop, he was human," said Officer Alexander Duarte.

Duarte just graduated from the academy. Before he applied, he looked at many agencies, and Miami's social media helped sway his favor. He's not the only one.

"I remember within the last 2 to 3 years of different vlogs and thinking to myself wow I would like to be in that position," Officer Paul Scott said.

Youtube has even recognized Miami PD for surpassing hundreds of thousands of views on its video channel, so it was no surprise that the latest recruiting video became a hit.

"This is the fastest that we've ever closed," Perez said.

Within hours, there were 1,000 applications when the process opened up last month.  It usually takes weeks. Meanwhile, other police departments took notice, with some contacting the social media unit for tips.

"Across the nation, it kind of seems like police relations there's a little turmoil so fortunately, we have a great relationship with our community," Perez said.

The idea was simple, to highlight the relationship with the community, but talk to real people.

"I used to be a DJ I always had a love for videography creating videos, and I just had this opportunity and I had to go at it, so this was like a dream come true."

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