This is a pet peeve of mine. All kinds of people are necessary for the proper functioning of our society. Police officers are one of those. It is a job, it has risks.
What I don't get is the 'sacrifice' aspect of it. He was performing his duties and he died. He was PAID to do that job, so it wasn't a 'sacrifice' for free. What is the huge difference between him getting hit like he did and a logger getting hit and killed by a falling tree? We treat the former as so much more worthy of our honor, yet conceptually they are the same. They are both being paid to do risky jobs.
Of course, we get ANGRY because it was a willful, human-caused death, but I don't see that his death is any more 'sacrificial' than the logger's, the trucker's, the construction worker's, etc.
So my vote is, yes, way over the top.