I was also interested but have taken a stand on the salary issue too, and not applied. I have also decided not to apply for one or two other police jobs on the same basis. Just one person's view but perhaps repeated?
Because it is of interest to me, I have been enquiring about the going rate. It seems to vary quite a lot. I was also told that one of the major contracting organisations was paying £39K for police line pilots. Another smaller one is paying £45K, while yet another (probably soon to be an ex police contractor) is paying various rates covering that range and more.