I agree, the providing companies and the police authorities have benefitted from experienced ex-military employees for a long time; the minimum acceptable experience requirement bears this out.
I've said this before, but now there are fewer experienced pilots around, either the money must go up or the goal posts get widened, or a combination of both occurs.
I walked away from police aviation after I was expected to take a cut in terms and conditions on contract change. To expect an employee to accept a low salary in relation to the industry norm just because he is "expected" to have a pension from previous emplyment, is absurd. I can't think of any other industry where this occurs.