The Officer responsible should be prosecuted in the same way any member of the publc would be. I know that would almost certainly lead to him/her being banned from having animals in their care, for a period if not indefinitely, but you cannot have one rule for them & one for everyone else. 

Someone who works with these dogs on a daily basis really should know better.

Yeah likely, the G20 officer that was caught on video clearly guilty of manslaughter what ever happended to him?

Two taps on the knuckle and a "take more care next time" for the Dog Police

King Richard wrote (see)

It is. They should be prosecuted as any dog owner would be.

Before you jump to conclusions please consider that you only have the headline to go by.  There is no information about how this came to happen, no matter how horrible the consequences.

Dog handlers live and breath with their animals and i would imagine treat them very well .  Do you really believe that this is anything more sinister than a mistake.  Granted its a big mistake but what will punishing the guy further achieve?  He will most certainly not do it again (It may not have been within his control, we dont know), he will most definately be an asset lost to the force as i expect dog handlers arent two a penny.

Two dogs died, but then arent they there because in the grand scheme of things, they are expendable.  If this hadnt been reported you wouldnt have given the police dogs a second thought.

Try not to jump on the sensationailst bandwagon and take it in context of what is reported against what we dont know.  All we know is two dogs died, the handler may have been apprehending a mugger of a 80yr old woman and have gotten himself into a scrape which meant he couldnt get back.  You dont know from the headline or the article.

"The animals were found dead in the private vehicle outside the force's headquarters in Nottingham on Tuesday."

(first line of the article)

Hobo , obviously not your relations then.

"The animals were found dead in the private vehicle outside the force's headquarters in Nottingham on Tuesday."

Still doesnt explain why they were left.

They should not have been left.

The dogs were found in a private vehicle, which is owned by a member of the dog unit who was on duty at the time.

If you or I had done it there would be no acceptable excuses. 

Elaine Pendlebury, senior veterinary surgeon at the PDSA said: "Over the years I have seen countless cases of heatstroke in pets.

"We always tend to think of dogs in cars, which of course can be lethal as recent tragic events have proved, but heatstroke can affect all sorts of animals and is always distressing.

"As we know a car is a death trap in hot weather as it can rise to unbearable temperatures very quickly.

"Never leave a dog in a car, even if you only intend to be away for a few moments.

"You never know what might delay you."  

I believe all police stations still have kennel facilities (intended for handling strays) which would be available if needed.

A good few years ago I spotted a car that had 2 Labs locked in it parked adjacent to a large Boot Fair.  It was a really hot day so I called the Police and then smashed the car's quarterlights whilst talking still on the phone.  When they attended, I was congratulated on my actions and they made it clear to the vehicle owner when she showed up that I had acted appropriately in an attempt to preserve life.  The owner was prosecuted fined and banned from dog ownership for 3 years.

Sadly not. The council now have responsibility for stray dogs and NOT the Police. Where I work the couple of stations that had kennels have had them knocked down or turned into storage. Space is a premium.

Oh well, at least it shows it's been a long time since I've been near a Police station