In nearly every presidential election, the Fraternal Order of Police has collected votes from officers in each U.S. state to determine which candidate they will support. This year police in Ohio voted overwhelmingly to support Donald Trump.
Ohio was one of many states to endorse Donald Trump, leading to his national endorsement by the FOP.
President for the Ohio Chapter, Jay McDonald says not only has Trump been outspoken in his support for officers, he's backed initiatives like, making violence against officers a hate crime and the Social Security Fairness Act - enhancing social security benefits for public service employees.
According to McDonald, many Ohio officers have supported Trump's plans to build a wall along the Mexican-United States border. A part from immigration, he says this is one way illegal drugs like heroine are making their way into Ohio - A big issue for Ohio law enforcement.
"More people die in this state of Opiate overdoses than die of car crashes and we believe that securing our borders will go a long way to reducing the supply of opiates." McDonald said.
While the FOP has predominately endorsed Republican candidates, McDonald says they did endorse Bill Clinton when he ran for reelection in 1996. But this election, McDonald says the Trump campaign put forth more effort to win their endorsement.
"Secretary Clinton's campaign did not and didn't respond to out efforts to have her fill out the questionnaire to explain her positions," McDonald said.
That questionnaire outlines a candidate's position on certain issues related to law enforcement. McDonald says Clinton's campaign did not complete the questionnaire on time. Instead, officers made their selection with only Trump's responses.
The Clinton campaign has not responded to WOSU's request for comment.
