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I think if you were a police officer, you'd soon sing another tune. Those people encounter dogs much more frequently than any cyclist, for whom "what to do about dogs?" is a mostly intellectual exercise.

Dogs live in their world. We, in ours. Dogs don't follow human conventions, and they are definitely physically tougher than we are. Dogs who live the barrios of US cities are just like the near feral ones encountered in the third world.

A little negative re-inforcement from a police officer will imbed a very clear memory in the dogs brain. He will undoubtably not attack another uniformed police officer.

I find that most dogs I get hassled by are pretty good souls. Some say "don't stop" but I disagree. Stopping breaks the chase sequence. It also clears up any notion that you are or aren't human. Without exception, dogs that were chasing me a second ago will now be circling, or looking back over their shoulder for the master to come out, or for back-up. They just don't know what to do with something that does not run. Within a few seconds, I'm either petting them for stopping the chase action, or the are peeing on some object nearby, marking the limit of where I can go.

EDIT: I do believe, however, that there is a % of actually aggressive dogs that do bite. For those, you gotta be meaner than they are and realize that it might be your turn in the barrel becaue you might get in one good kick but usually the second will miss.