police officer's have the only job in the world where, in peace time, death results from gunshot wounds.
death in those other jobs you listed, while dangerous, result from accidents. although the numbers don't lie, i do see a distinction.
The only job? 7-11 clerks don’t count?
Are you sure that 7-11 clerks and cabbies die from flowers and niceness?
From the same page I got the previous stats from: http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/03/0903worksafe.html
The most common cause of death on the job in 2000, however, was the car accident, accounting for 23% of the total. Even police officers were slightly more likely to die behind the wheel than by homicide.
I don't really see a distinction. Cops have a job to do. Though it can occasionally be dangerous, no one makes them do it. I'm sorry, but I've run into too many cops in my life who are nothing more than bullies with badges and guns for me to put them on a pedistal, or in fact, cut them any slack at all when they step over the line. We citizens have rights, and from my, and apparently others posting on this thread's perspectives, we see all too often that stickling up for them, like Darrow did by asking why the cop was questioning him, will result in a cop getting upset and riled up beyond any sense of proportion because they feel like they are being 'dissed'.
It's a sad state of affairs, and one I don't see changing as long as police think of themselves as paramilitary 'law enforcement officers', rather than keepers of the peace. Many of us see cops as nothing but revenue generators for various government bodies. They certainly aren't on our side.