he was a real hoot. But he got out the back window and bit another officer on the leg while they were trying to find a bad guy, and compassion is not in their training.

and had them walking their beats cleaning up as they went it would do a hell of a lot more to deter crime and make everyone a lot safer in the long run.

One guy with a broom will always reduced more crime then a cop with a gun it is just a fact of public policy.

For years, the preferred "Weapon" of police was the Billy Club or Baton. You could knock knives and pistols out of people's hands and it encourage the officer to be more physically aggressive (i.e. charge TO a criminal, instead of taking a stand and shooting the criminal), but at the same time minimize what harm the officer could do to the criminal (Through you could do a lot of damage to someone with a baton, see the Rodney King Video for an example of this).

The main reason baton use declined in police circles has to do with Automobiles. The old wooden batons were a pain in the neck when kept on a belt as you entered and exited a police car (as the US Army became more mechanized you saw a similar dropping of the bi-fold M1943/M1945/M 1951 entrenching tool for the less effective when it came to actually digging M 1967 tri-fold entrenching tool for the same reason i.e. troops hated the longer bi-fold when it came to getting into and out of vehicles).

In the case of Police batons the problem of getting in and out of a Automobile was addressed with the new expandable metal billy clubs, but they just do not have the appearance of the old wooden billy clubs (and that is in many ways visibility of the club is more important then usability of the of the club).

Just compare the old wooden billy club with the newer expandable clubs:



The side arm baton is popular



Here is an expanded expandable baton:



https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrxgvbMcy3btUAX4kbM72yTVxvum34Tg_F2Qfj5us_wF-0eQo&usqp=CAE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baton_(law_enforcement)

BBC report from 1998 about British police replacing their traditional straight batons with "American" Side arm batons, the British police are generally UNARMED but always carried a baton:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/244530.stm

Wikipedia reported the use of the side arm baton was short lived, replaced by expandable batons for the same reason many American Police Forces went to the expandable baton, getting in and out of automobiles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_uniforms_and_equipment_in_the_United_Kingdom

Prior to 1964 the most common police "vehicle" was the bicycle, but after the 1964 police Act, Automobiles became the vehicle of choice, replacing not only the remaining bicycles but most foot policemen (Thus the old wooden baton became more and more a problem, such wooden batons are NOT a problem on a bicycle, you have no back rest and the seat does NOT interfere with things carried on a belt, that is NOT true of Automobiles or other motorized vehicles with the possible exceptions of motorcycles).

Thus even in Britain the old wooden baton is disappearing and with it the tradition that it would be the police officers first choice of weapons.

they have to take it out on dogs?

Dog is brown
Set off the reflex on the part of the cop

a little training on how to calm a dog should be given. My suspicions on who made the error: until proven, I think the cop who was bitten may have. Certainly the handler did not secure the dog in the car. Likely the 1-sided statements will fix the blame on the dog, who will likely be executed.

You might be right eventually, but the current article does not support any of those assumptions as of now.

When a teenage who was bi-polar began acting up at a home I own but lease out, 9-11 was called by someone else so I met the two officers who showed up in separate cars. One was a sheriffs deputy in his 30s and the other was a local police officer who appeared to be young enough to still be in high school. We walked around to the fenced back yard where the teenage was and while the deputy was quietly speaking to the teenager, a small puppy came out of home's doggie door and came to the fence barking. The puppy could be held in one hand, yet the police officer walked up to the fence and said he was going to shoot the puppy. There was a five foot fence between the little puppy and the policeman. I told him he would not and when the deputy saw what was going on he asked the police officer and me to go to the front door and check inside and make sure there was no damage. When we went inside the puppy came back inside through the doggie door and the kid started drawing his weapon and again said he was going to shoot it. I stepped between him and the puppy I told him I was the owner of the home and to get the hell out, which he did. I then went outside and told the deputy what an asshole the kid was. The deputy had already professionally resolved the initial situation by convincing the teenager to stay at one of his friends home for the night.
I think the proper term in a situation like this is the kid had a bad case of Wyatt Errp syndrome. Unlike the deputy, the kid served no purpose in even responding to the call.
I tell this incident not intending to reflect on the likely appropriate action take by the officer in the OP's post.

He had to defend himself with little warning. K-9 vehicles these days typically have mechanisms activated by remote control that will sling the door open if the officer activates a remote control on his belt.

My best guess would be that the remote was inadvertently pressed inside the station causing the door to open in the parking lot. The dog is trained to attack when that door is opened like that, it means his handler is in trouble.

It's neither the dog or the attacked officer's fault, they were following their training. It was either a faulty mechanism, a poorly closed door/window, or the remote got activated.

a police officer. If they didn't just get shot.

But the dog will not forget that cop.

Open window? Where was the cage? Door ajar?

That kind of 'trained' dog should NEVER be left alone to "get out of the police car".

Police dog "trained by police to bite", react fast & bite anything within reach
meets police man trained by police to shoot, react fast & shoot anything he
deems to be a threat.

Who could have thought that this scenario could go wrong?

Wonder how many thousands of 'prisoners' have permanent injury from police dog bites. Doubt the arrested get hand surgery specialists or facial reconstruction surgery for their wounds.

IMO, police dogs used to 'chase runners' or search buildings should be muzzled.