A lot of things vary from one agency to another, but where I work I don't think most people would consider this a last resort job. Most of us are here either because this is what we want to do or because it's a good career builder towards other public safety/law enforcement type jobs.

For my part, if I have to work, I think this is about as good as it gets for me. I like the hours, the pay isn't amazing but it's livable, benefits are solid, and it's interesting and satisfying work.

It's also not the quickest hiring process since they usually wait until they have a few people to run a training class, it's been a few years now but I believe I did my aptitude test and interview in mid August (same day because they were doing a hiring event, sometimes they have to get scheduled separately) did my job shadow a week or two later with another short interview, got my conditional offer around mid September, had to do a drug, hearing, and vision test and a psych eval, and class started in about mid-late October, so about 2 months start to finish.

I have a friend who tested at the same time as me and got picked up for the next class they ran, so it was a couple extra months for him.

And some other agencies have extra steps in the process. More rounds of interviews, really in-depth background checks with interviews with the sheriff and a polygraph test and such (thankfully the agency I work for isn't like that since polygraphs are bullshit)

No not ideal for someone who really needs a job ASAP.