Pros
The EDCs are excellent. The dog was well-trained, well-mannered and did a great work at her job.
Cons
Training is weak. Some of the trainers are good, but others think that it is acceptable to yell and treat grown men and women like police cadets. Most of the people in my training class were retired police officers and this style was not received well. The EDCs are food reward, which is very time consuming as a handler. Play reward is used by almost every other law enforcement agency and private 'security' dog company in the world. Scheduling is terrible. The schedulers (mid-level management) don't care if you only have several hours between shifts and think nothing of juggling the schedule to meet their needs. If you take this job, you should be single and have no friends or family - otherwise, you will end up constantly canceling plans because your schedule changed. The company does not care about the employees or the EDCs. If your EDC gets injured, they will not pay for the vet bills until it is approved by the director of EDCs, which means you will have already gone to the vet and paid out of pocket OR the medical visit is denied. Finally, the pay is ridiculous. The salary is far lower than comparable companies and the stipend doesn't even begin to cover your fees for the month (food, EDC equipment, gas, travel, etc.). Also, trying to get your monies owed outside of your regular station (eg travel) is difficult at best. You need to keep an very accurate spreadsheet and keep hounding MSA HQ for your money, which takes far too much time and energy to be worth it.
