This March marked a dubious milestone for American law enforcement. With four officers killed by a gunman in Oakland, it was the first month since Operation Iraqi Freedom began that the number of police officers murdered on American streets equaled the number of U.S. military personnel killed by hostile fire in Iraq.

And in the first half of April, five officers have already been murdered on-duty, including three in Pittsburgh shot by a lone gunman.

Mass shooters have claimed the lives of 58 Americans, including most of the nine police officers killed since the March 22 shootings in Oakland. Like committed terrorists willing to die for a cause, many only stopped after being shot by officers in a gunbattle or after taking their own lives once cornered.

Americans need to recognize that there is a war being waged in our hometowns - and police officers are serving on the frontline.

Our police officers are being put on the defensive by mass murderers and increasingly, the officers themselves are being specifically targeted. Yet, despite the outpouring of support for officers and their families in the immediate wake of these incidents, there is no outrage and no demand for more resources to fight against these increasingly violent and well-equipped criminals.

This needs to change. We need more officers, more training and more equipment. And we need to keep criminals already convicted of violent crimes where they belong - in prison - instead of releasing them early on parole to commit more violent crimes.

Our officers face an enemy at home just as determined to indiscriminately kill as any terrorist overseas. The suspects that killed the officers in Oakland and Pittsburgh were armed with AK-47 assault rifles - the same weapon of choice used by our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Orange City, Fla. Officer Sherif El-Shami lost an eye and his career as a street cop after being shot at by a man who had just killed his girlfriend and her son on March 25. Police later found a .50-caliber sniper rifle, shotguns, pistols and large quantities of ammunition in the suspect's house.

"I don't think anybody should have stuff like that," local newspapers quoted El-Shami saying later. "This is Orange City. This is not Iraq."

According to Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc., an average of 23 officers have died each year since 2003 at the hands of another (hostile gunfire and assaults). To have nine officers killed in four incidents in a span of three weeks represents a troubling spike in violence against our officers.

Here in Los Angeles, violence against officers has been on the rise. LAPD officers were assaulted 168 times in 2008 and shot at 14 times. Most of those shots missed their targets, but one bullet struck and killed Officer Randal Simmons, who was entering the home of a man who had killed three family members when the suspect shot him. Simmons became the first SWAT officer in LAPD history killed in the line of duty.

Police across the U.S. are stepping up to take on this elevated threat and should be honored for their dedication and sacrifice. But whether one patrols Baghdad or Binghampton, N.Y., there exists a well-armed threat willing to die for something, no matter how irrational.