Actually I think it sucks when you consider that you're much more likely to die on the job as a CHP officer than as a programmer.

Garbage collector death rate: 47/100,000 per year

Roofer death rate: 35/100,000 per year

Lumberjack death rate: 92/100,000 per year

Police death rate: 13/100,000 per year

None of these jobs requires a college degree. The average roofer salary is 36k/year, 42% of the salary of a job with a 63% lower death rate.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/26/pf/jobs_jeopardy/

http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfoi_rates_2009hb.pdf

http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-roofing

Granted, being a police officer is certainly a more risky profession than programming, but I'm not sure that the chance of getting killed on the job is higher for police officers than for truck or cab drivers.