This is entirely as it is supposed to operate. See Archibald Tuttle [0]. Cowardly, weak little men who would never have the nerve to look another in the eye, are depicted in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" in a different way to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four. Whereas the "Thought Police" of the latter are happy to use violence, the grey bureaucrats of Gilliam's world hide behind malfunctioning machinery which is their unpredictable attack dog. As with weapon dogs it is a vicarious instrument which they claim to have "no control over".

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film)