Police aren't training outs in some depts. There was arguing between people who have been or are currently working LEO K9 handlers/trainer. So it's not a settled matter even between professional LEO K9 handlers/trainers.
I've been part of those arguments. Just about universally, people who are not training the out, do not know how to do so without harming the rest of the dog's work. Per the courts, and common sense, a K−9 is required to be under the control of is handler at all times. Seems to me, that if the handler can't get his dog to stop biting when the handler is a distance away, he's not under control. Just the same as if he couldn't get the dog to sit or recall. It's just a matter of time until these cases start hitting the courts.
Getting the out is surprisingly easy if the right methods are used. I've never had any trouble doing so. I've worked with some dogs that have had a cattle prod applied to their testicles in efforts to get them to release a bite and still would not. My hardest case, I had that dog releasing on a verbal command in about 45 minutes. Others who have suffered the same abuse, and I think that is abuse, took less time.
The out is not just for the crook. Other people get bitten by these dogs sometimes, innocent bystanders and sometimes other officers. In the past couple of years officers have shot and killed several police dogs that bit other officers, would not release the bite and so the officers handled it themselves. I know of officers who have received career ending injuries from their department's police dogs. There's no excuse for this, except ignorance.
BUT It would follow that if they don't think training outs are necessary this is the sort of thing you're going to see.
I think that there's a significant difference between releasing a ball/toy and releasing a suspect. Different drives are involved and so for the best results, different approaches are needed. Lots of people think this is an OB issue, I used to as well, but then I found a much better way, working with, instead of against the dog's drives.
In some cases (like one near me recently when the K9 bit an officer and they used a break stick to get the dog off of a POLICE officer) and the other case in SC where they had to cut the pants off the suspect because the mali wouldn't out. They tried flanking and choking that dog out too.
That last bite you refer to, went on for about a minute and a half on a suspect who was completely non-resisting. It should have been stopped immediately after the dog made the bite.
I know police K9s don't need snappy competition OB on them but there's the other side of the coin and this is an example IMO.
Sorry for the rant, this topic makes me a bit crazy. (Some say that's a short trip!) lol
Now to this dog. I fear another rant coming on. I think we're seeing a poorly trained handler applying a technique improperly. It looks as if the dog has a ball and the handler is trying to get it away from him. Lifting the dog's front feet off the ground to cut off his air, aka choking him, is a common method to do this when the dog is not responsive to a voice command. But this handler apparently feels that if a little is good, then a lot is better. He's wrong. The hits with the leash are dumb, but they're not hard enough that they are abusive.
The uproar is due to several things. First is the fact that this country is going down the toilet due to the emphasis placed on political correctness of wannabe−do−gooders of all kinds. From banning big sodas to keeping speakers from college campuses, the place is going off the rails. Anything but feeding a dog a treat, is abuse to some of them. Mostly they have no idea how to get a dog to do anything unless they have a treat in their hands. I'm not talking about so−called PP trainers, just the pet owners who think their dogs are little furry children. Now with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the rest, they get a voice, the same as someone who knows what the heck he's doing. And with politicians afraid that they might lose a vote, they over−react and the result is that this officer gets suspended and his dog taken away. When this sort of thing happens, it cheapens situations where REAL abuse is going.