After a presidential campaign in which Donald Trump and his surrogates regularly claimed law enforcement was under assault from an increasingly lawless public, the first year of Trumps presidency is shaping up to be among the safest ever for police.

A total of 45 officers have been feloniously killed in the line of duty in 2017, according to unofficial FBI data updated earlier this month. That number tracks closely to other counts from independent sites and marks a significant downturn from 2016, when a total of 66 officers were feloniously killed . Barring a catastrophe in the final days of the year, the annual total will be well below the average seen over the last 20 years.

These figures follow a year in which Trump and other administration officials have sought to build on the presidents self-described law and order campaign by speaking out against a perceived uptick in attacks on police and pushing back against police reform efforts.

One of Trumps first official acts as president was to sign an executive order Preventing Violence Against Federal, State, Tribal, and Local Law Enforcement Officers, a largely symbolic gesture that dovetailed with his campaign rhetoric.

At a ceremony for fallen officers in May, Trump cited violence against police in 2016 as evidence of an emerging crisis for law enforcement.

We are living through an era in which our police have been subject to unfair defamation and vilification, and even worse hostility and violence, Trump said. More officers were slain last year in ambushes than in any year in more than two decades.

Although more officers were killed in 2016 than in the preceding few years, that total was largely driven by two high-profile ambush incidents in Texas, in which five officers were killed , and Louisiana, in which three were killed . Four officers were killed in ambush attacks in 2017, according to the FBI.

While the 2016 increase in police killings was a cause for concern, it came after years of record-low numbers in 2013 and 2015. A closer look at historical counts also shows that although the 2016 total was above average for recent years, it was less than half of the peak total in 1973, when 134 officers were feloniously killed.