We have all heard and read the propaganda that reads sort of like : "It is no small thing to daily go out there, risking your life, not knowing what lunatic might be behind the next door....so, you know, some of us get it...that it is very serious work and we do appreciate it. "

Well it's a fucking lie.
It is pure propaganda spread by the police themselves.

While it's true that in some neighborhoods and every once in a blue moon on a rural highway there are shots fired at the cops the simple fact is that it is the exceptionally rare circumstance that cops get assaulted attacked or shot at.
Mostly it's a damn lie.

You have a substantially better chance being attacked and murdered in your own home than any given police officer has of being shot on duty. Your chances of being attacked and murdered go up exponentially when you venture out of your home.

I just know that some folks will have a hard time with those assertions:

Here is a CENTURY of police deaths:

"A summary of the top ten leading causes of law enforcement fatalities during the past century follows (does not include 1999 figures):

1. Firearms (6,846 or 49%)
2. Automobile Accidents (2,090 or 15%)
3. Motorcycle Accidents (1,022 or 7%)
4. Struck by Vehicle (955 or 7%)
5. Job-related Illness (588 or 4%)
6. Aircraft Accidents (311 or 2%)
7. Stabbings (197 or 1%)
8. Fall (147 or 1%)
9. Drowning (142 or 1%)
10. Beaten (134 or 1%)

Roughly 61% of the officers killed this past century were feloniously assaulted by criminals, and 39% died in accidental circumstances (e.g., automobile accidents, aircraft accidents, shooting accidents, etc.). However, during each of the past five years (including 1999) that trend has reversed itself with more accidental deaths than felonious. Roughly 5% of the officers who died over the past 100 years were killed taking law enforcement action while in an off duty capacity."
Source: www.nleomf.org/TheMemoria...crifice.htm

In 2008:
" Based on preliminary data, the groups found that 140 law enforcement officers were killed in 2008 -- 86 of them accidentally and 54 intentionally.

Just the year before, the group found 181 deaths -- 108 of them accidental and 73 intentional.

"Fewer officers were killed by gunfire in 2008 than in any year since 1956," the report says. "Preliminary data indicate 41 officers died in firearms-related incidents this year, compared with 68 in 2007, a reduction of 40 percent.""
Source: www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/1...wn/index.html

However a look at some raw numbers may help dispel the lie that claims that the Police are ricking it all for you:

Year ---------- Total homicides
1980 . . . . . . 23,040
1985 . . . . . . 18,976
1990 . . . . . . 23,438
1993 . . . . . . 24,526
1994 . . . . . . 23,326
1995 . . . . . . 21,606
1996 . . . . . . 19,645
1997 . . . . . . 18,208
1998 . . . . . . 16,974
1999 . . . . . . 15,522
2000 . . . . . . 15,586
2001 . . . . . . 16,037
2002 . . . . . . 16,204
2003 . . . . . . 16,582
2004 . . . . . . 16,137
2005 . . . . . . 16,692
Source = United States Census: www.census.gov/compendia/...09s0301.pdf

That's more people murdered in any given year than police deaths in all history.
I think that in any given year more people are murdered than all causes of deaths for cops in a whole century.