Story highlights Eight-in-10 officers say police work is harder now

Most officers say the fatal encounters are isolated

(CNN) Two thirds of police officers think the high-profile fatal encounters between law enforcement and African Americans are isolated incidents and the protests that followed stem from an anti-police bias, a new survey has found.

The difference in perception between police and the public is one of the observations in a new Pew Research Center poll, released Wednesday.

The poll surveyed nearly 8,000 officers on race relations, morale and reform -- the first nationally representative survey since protests over fatal shootings sparked a national conversation on police reform. It found that a majority of officers are now hesitant to stop and question suspects and the tense atmosphere has made their jobs more difficult. And it found that black and white officers have a different take on how good community relations are.

Here are some of the key findings:

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