Since President Obama left office, morale for law enforcement officers has been boosted across the country. Line-of-duty deaths are down, departments have the equipment they need, and police officials are thanking President Trump for being their biggest advocate.

In addition, fatal shootings of police declined in 2017, crime rates are lower, and tensions between cops and minorities have also cooled. Overall, police departments know Trump has their backs unlike the previous president who stoked racial tensions.

National Fraternal Order of Police Executive Director Jim Pasco said:

“Arguably the most significant thing a president can do is use the bully pulpit to reflect his support for law enforcement. To this point in [Trump’s] presidency, he has certainly gone out of his way to do that. That resonates within the profession, and it’s received very favorably.”

Pasco also said that protesters are less emboldened to launch attacks against officers because they know they don’t have an advocate in the White House: “People who otherwise might feel empowered in making these attacks see far less empathy or support from authority figures than they may have in the past.”

President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association Tom Manger added that Trump’s Justice Department, headed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, has improved policing by reversing the previous administration’s policies, most notably consent decrees in court.

“We were frustrated toward the end of the Obama administration with the Justice Department and some of their decisions with regard to consent decrees and how they were dealing with individual police departments they are reviewing or investigating,” Manger said.

There are two areas of concern right now for officers, according to The Washington Times: the opioid crisis and illegal immigration:

[P]olice say they are still worried about the challenges of the opioid epidemic and wary of how they will balance the Trump administration’s focus on curbing illegal immigration without alienating immigrant communities with which they are trying to build trust.

But after eight years of a lawless administration, it’s nice to see what happens when law enforcement is allowed to do their jobs.