Haha, I was just typing an edit to say that I understand that there's a difference between urban and suburban police officers in terms of risk to their person. My contempt for police was borne out of being a kid in a suburban environment where nothing ever went wrong, yet they were always there to act like huge a-holes. That, plus the few cops I know personally are giant racists, half retarded, scum bags who make me feel less safe as a citizen. That said, I'm sure it's terribly dangerous to be a cop in Detroit, South Central, or the south side of Chicago. I don't envy them.
And see my comments are flavored by the fact that I have a co-worker who used to be a cop. He loved it. He worked in West Philly. He fucked up his knee and destroyed both Achilles' tendons chasing after suspects. He had a baby die in hs arms as he was trying to give it CPR. See, shit like that? Yeah, I'd say that deserves $75k a year. He was dischaged becasue he destroyed his body working for them and I guess could no longer keep up. That makes me sad. He's a good man. So, anecdotes. They're great for flavoring opinions :)