From the article:
Public safety dog?? Thought K9s were police officers.
http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/in-killing-of-police-dogs-cops-usually-get-light-punishment-7008622
Interesting read on this. I guess the K9s are only considered police officers when "non badge wearers" hurt or kill them.
Apparently, this is a big issue and officers seem to treat the dogs like equipment rather than living, breathing creatures.
Which is disturbing in three ways. The obvious, beating up on a dog is just *expletive deleted*ed up. The second is that the training requirements and care involved in getting a dog to perform at that level is expensive and takes a long time. You don't just go pick up some pups and spend a couple months with them, viola, Police Dog. It's years of training and, even picking the best options, not every dog that starts the training will finish it. Not every dog can do it.
Third, especially with dogs that are attacked trained, beating an animal can result in the animal defending itself. Even when an dog is justified for biting, it most likely will have to be put down. Bad handling creates dangerous animals. The large, dominate and intelligent dogs used for police work are the most likely to end up dangerous after being mishandled.
So, this ahole in the OP beat up that poor dog, potentially ruining a valuable asset to his department and risked creating a dangerous animal that could potentially harm himself and others.