Pros
Mostly rigid schedule that guarantees holidays and weekends off for most positions. Decent insurance for slightly less than the private sector. Retirement is matched to a certain dollar amount and 401k's are available. Once you have worked here for 3 years, you get an annual Longevity Bonus for every year you remain with the state.
Cons
Management always have conflicting information that they disseminate to employees. Management will not go to bat for employees in most offices. The pay is lower than the cost of living. Not much room for promotion unless someone dies or retires. Management cannot acknowledge all of the overtime employees put in because overtime is not allowed. People may spend their whole lives working in the same position making the same income as someone beginning fresh. There are no regular salary increases and all pay raises have to be voted in by the legislature. The pay is relatively low for the level of knowledge and experience needed to complete the work but that is par for the course in law enforcement. The work is high risk but the equipment and training provided is minimal. Management is schizophrenic with duty mandates and often change what they want from employees every few months. There is no parity among offices across the state and many offices and managers choose to do things their way. Too many rules puling officers in different directions (e.g. we have to abide by local court requests and rules, complete tasks the DA's want, follow what management in the Central Office says, follow instruction from local management with nothing in writing showing that's what we were told). Morale is very low among staff. Once you try to go beyond the manager position (ppo 1, ppo 2, ppo 3, Manager, Deputy District Director, District Director, etc.) everything becomes political and upward mobility becomes a pipe dream for the average employee. An employee can spend 30 years with the department and never make it beyond PPO 2.