'It's really an assassination': Police deaths up 44 percent from 2015

'That's certainly a concern for us.'

The officers killed in Dallas, TX increased the number of officer fatalities by 44 percent since last year - and 2016 is only halfway done.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, law enforcement officer deaths in the first half of 2016 is on the verge of overriding the total number of officer deaths in all of 2015.

In 2015, the total number of officer fatalities added to 58 deaths. As of July 2016, there have been 56 total fatalities, only 12 from 2007's record of 70 officers killed across the nation.

The greatest reason for the deaths were firearms-related, with 26 this year and 18 last year - a difference of 44 percent.

In 2015, 27 officers died in traffic-related incidents while 22 have been killed this year.

Other, unnamed, causes of death claimed 8 lives so far this year and 13 last year.

According to USA TODAY, Nick Breul, the director of research for the fund in Washington, D.C., described the deaths in Texas as the latest of eleven ambushes of police officers so far this year.

"That's certainly a concern for us," he explained. "It's troubling and it's something that we watch. It's really an assassination. You're taking advantage of an officer and you're ensuring that you're able to kill him through them either being vulnerable or through a complete surprise attack."

The last major ambush involving an attack on police officers was at a coffee shop in Lakewood, WA in 2009.

A gunman walked into the shop and opened fire on four city police officers who were working on their laptops before beginning their shifts.

All four were killed and the gunman was killed two days later during a shootout with police.

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