All these payouts should come out of the police’s budget.
Only then would there be any accountability for their actions.
Completely agree.
To be more specific, the bulk of the settlement should be paid with deductions from the salaries of administrative personnel, and down the chain of command to the guy who shot the dog. The rest should come from whoever appointed the chief of police.
They'll simply steal more to make up for it.
The officer belongs in jail at the minimum for animal cruelty, reckless/wanton destruction of property, false imprisonment.
As long as LEOs are held to a different legal standard than citizens this kind of thing will continue, and escalate. Eventually all citizens will view LEOs with the same level of suspicion and hostility that they would view any other organization if criminals.
Best would be to have these nationwide, daily, awards come from the Police Unions.