I'm a street cop ... two years on transit foot patrol and now in a car. Here are my observations, in no particular order ...
1. I don't feel the job is particularly dangerous (albeit I don't work in Detroit or LA). People threaten us every day but unless they're drug or alcohol affected they don't typically follow through. Cops must always maintain situational awareness but in any fight the odds are typically on our side.
2. Cops are all colors, bad guys are all colors. Racial politics isn't a singular dividing line in the question of of police policy.
3. I don't want anyone to care about my life except a few select people of my own choosing.
4. No one should assault anyone unlawfully without consequences.
5. A person who assaults a cop, firefighter, or ambulance worker, wouldn't shy from assaulting a child or woman. It's a special kind of idiot.