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First, if we define heroism by the extent to which one puts their life on the line in the course of their work — and apparently that’s the operative definition nowadays — then there is nothing all that heroic about policing. According to the Department of Labor, the on-the-job fatality rate for police is lower than that for gardeners, electricians, truck drivers, garbage collectors, construction workers, airline pilots, timber cutters, and commercial fisherman. In fact, fishermen have an occupational fatality rate that is fifteen times higher than that for cops, but rarely do we hear those who provide us with an endless supply of mahi-mahi described as heroes.
–Heroism and Hype: Selling the Police in America by Tim Wise, AlterNet, January 7, 2002