Davdirect wrote:

Then why require the law enforcement training? Wouldn't it be wiser to have an
experienced pilot than to have an experienced cop who has minimal hours?

Yes that would be a good presumption.

However the politics of the situation come into play.

If you were a police officer in any city, what would your attitude be
if you knew that you could never be the chief of police, a dog handler,
a supervisor, a trainer, the head of the union, a dispatcher, or
even a helicopter pilot, in your own police department.

Some years ago in British Columbia ( Canada ) a fire department
hired a new chief from outside the department.

In this case I do believe he was the fire marshall for the Province
and his credentials were impeccible and beyod reproach.

But because he wasn't hired from within the department the
firemen and firewomen would not and did not support him
for many, many, many, many years.

Their attitude was.... why should we work our ass off for
ten fifteen years if - when - the job as chief comes up we
won't even be considered.

The chief got death threats, vandalism, his kids suffered, etc.

They made his life miserable.

Someone more familier with that situation can jump in at any time
and correct me on the details. I'm trying not to imbelish the story.

If you spent five years as a police officer for example and wanted to
be a dog handler and your police department would only hire people
who were interested IN BECOMING POLICE OFFICERS and who already
had extensive outside training and experience handling dogs, where
would that leave you.

Why you might have to quite the department, obtain extensive training
with dogs on your own, at your own expense, and then reapply and hoped
you got hired back in.

This actually happened with a police officer I knew some years ago.

He wanted to be a police helicopter pilot and with some years experience
as a police officer he had to quite the force, take his helicopter
training at his own expense, work in the industry for a couple of years
to get some hours under his belt and then reapply.

He was lucky..... They hired him back on as a helicopter pilot.