On 9/11/22, police officer Dillon Vakoff was killed in the line of duty. I had a chance to speak to his mother, Lisa Vakoff, who is responding to this tragedy with a call to action. She has been through many hardships, some which you or someone you know may relate to: being a single parent, dealing with an affair, a family dealing with addiction, a family dealing with the impacts of sexual assault, and homicide, to name a few. With permission, I am sharing a written statement she gave to me, inviting all of us to look around and see how we can push for change.
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From Lisa Vakoff
My great, great grandfather, who was from Bulgaria, fought in the Balkan war and proudly on horseback, I might add. My great grandfather immigrated to the United States and became a legal citizen. My grandfather was in the US Army during WWII and if memory serves me at Normandy. My great Uncle was in the US Navy during WWII at Pearl Harbor.
On my mother’s side of the family:
My uncle was in the US Army after the Korean conflict
My father served in the Montana National Guard during Vietnam
My Brother was in the US Navy during the Iran contra affair serving on the USS Nimitz
My ex-husband was in the US Navy during the first Gulf war while I was pregnant with my first son. He also deployed to Somalia as a Seabee during that conflict. His current wife also served in his same unit with the USS navy.
My oldest son was an MP in the US army during the Afghanistan war ( the 2nd Gulf war)
My youngest son was in the US Air Force and deployed to Qatar during the Afghanistan war. His accomplishments and contributions to our country were publicly acknowledged at his memorial service by Major Julian Gluck. Which, I would like to thank the US Air force for personally addressing me to know and understand his service to the country.
I BELIEVE in our military’s service members mission, duty and honor to serve the people of the United States. I BELIEVE in their mission and sworn oath to protect and defend our country’s great and amazing CONSTITUION of our 50 United States. I BELIEVE in our flag (Olde Glory) that represents their duty and sacrifice, and all who proceeded and yet to come, to the people of this great nation and around the world.
That CONSTITUTION is exactly why we are a free and sovereign nation. It is the document that separates us from the rest of the world and affords the American people rights. You know the rights that all of us scream, yell and holler all around the country fighting for our individual causes that we are willing to fight for, even if it is with one another; our friends, family members and neighbors right now. I guess shame on all of us. Maybe that’s how the civil war started. My hope and wish are for all of us American citizens to NEVER forget that all of these service members who volunteered their service and gave the ultimate sacrifice. For those of you who do not comprehend or understand…. They DIED for you!!!! To our great Military “Thank You” There are many that still understand, remember and honor your service!!!
So now I have some questions. Due to the nature of my son’s loss, how many of you have been divorced? I AM- How many of you were hurt and angry? I WAS- Did your spouse cheat on you? MINE DID- How many of you were now single parents? I WAS- How many of you used your children as a pawn for vengeance? I DID NOT! Did you know that the United States ranks #1 worldwide for single parent families? According to PEW Research center the US is the leader worldwide for broken homes!! I guess we should ask ourselves why? Shame on us as American Citizens that we do not value and honor the family unit.
Did all of these single parents move on and start dating someone new? I DID How many of us have been in domestic violent relationships? I WAS- Was drugs and alcohol involved? MINE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC I now became a single mother with 2 children with 2 different fathers. I GOT OUT QUICKLY- How many of you didn’t? I urge you to visit domesticviolencestatistics.org. I urge you to educate yourself.
Did you know that the state of Colorado along with Washington DC rank last in the nation for mental health? According to Mental Health America’s Annual Review Colorado is dead last for mental health care!! So, lets ask why? The people of Colorado on our last ballot voting measure voted NO to have oversight for settlement money coming into Colorado. Why would Colorado NOT want to know about the Oxycontin-Big Pharama-Purdue settlement? What about Big tobacco? Colorado will now receive n millions of dollars from these settlement with no oversight. Maybe ask yourself, are we the people of Colorado complicit in the fact that we are last in the nation for mental health? When you want to complain about homelessness, drug addiction and crime in our streets and communities, maybe we should ask ourselves why did we the people of Colorado not pay attention? Why didn’t we care? Oh, that’s right I forgot Officer Dillon Vakoff will take care of that. Right?
How many of you have been a victim of a sex crime? IT HAPPENED IN MY FAMILY- Please refer to nsvrc.org, or maybe vivtimsofcrime.org to learn more. All the information is out there all you have to do is open your eyes. Do some research. Care!!! That’s all I ask. Did you know that my family violator was an ILLEAGAL citizen? Our violator now bares my families last name legally. How is that even possible. Where is the justice? Trust me when I say “I called everyone from law enforcement to legislators even across state lines only for my story to fall on deaf ears!!! For those of you silently suffering, I hear you!! Seek help
So, at this point of my life all I can do is let go, move on and become a lion. I tried my best to be a productive member of society and raise my boys to have a good soul. This is when my eyes started to open. This is when I started to research and learn to discern information instead of just blindly listening and following all the opinions and trash talk that surrounds us. I started paying attention to my government and what they were doing. At this point I still didn’t quite understand the full capacity of what was happening. How many of you know? How many of you even care. I think that makes us complicit in bad government policy when we don’t care or know.
How many of you have experienced drug addiction? I HAVE- the rollercoaster ride that is addiction is the most horrific thing anyone, attached to it, can go through in this life. For the families and friends of an addict I understand. For the drug addict I understand. My son became addicted to pain killers recovering and injury in the military. It was scary to send my son into a war zone, after 9/11 I put on my cheerleading outfit and flew my flag. My duty was to support my son’s efforts to protect the constitution and our freedoms. He was Dillon’s hero and our family’s hero. Protocols, I’m hoping were changed after a meeting with CID. How many other veterans suffered the same fate? I’m sure the numbers are in the thousands. Drug addiction is the leading cause of death ages 18-45 in the United States according to CDC.gov. FYI I have tried to fight back, however the laws in Colorado are designed to protect the pharmaceutical companies, the rehabilitation centers and their insurers. I know from personal action. There is no justice and there is no remedy for the average person. Beware Colorado. Twenty-two other states practice in law comparative negligence. For those of you trying to recover when you are offered the miracle drug vivitrol, make sure the people administering this drug have protocol and procedures in place. I DID NOT- I am not a doctor or a nurse but was expected to be in my situation. According to a 9news source here in Colorado thousands, if not higher, have been injured or resulted in death from administering vivitrol because protocol of the manufacturer was not followed.
How many of you feel powerless? Want to fix what is broken in our systems. My son Officer Dillon Vakoff felt that way. He was set in motion to fix this broken world. He did everything in his power to be a positive light in everything he did and everyone who crossed his path. I am asking you to please hear me…..
My son gave to his country, he gave to his state, and he gave to his community everything he could to make a difference. He gave to the human condition….his LIFE!!!
I beg of you fellow Americans…. Please don’t fight with each other. Fight for the cause of good. Fight for what is broken. Do something meaningful and with purpose in whatever capacity you have to give. Again, ask yourself…how am I complicit, what can I do to help the human condition for the GOOD and ask what would Dillon do?