Applauded increase in salary in US Police Department (7)
I believe the answer is:
praised
'applauded' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'increase in salary in us police department' is the wordplay.
'increase in salary' becomes 'raise' (getting a raise is getting an increased salary).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'us police' becomes 'p' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'department' becomes 'd' (abbreviation eg in MOD Ministry of Defence).
'p'+'d'='pd'
'raise' placed inside 'pd' is 'PRAISED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for praised that I've seen before include "Spoke highly of" , "Expressed approval of" , "Lauded, extolled" , "Spoke well of" , "well-received" .)