Public plea in memory of fallen officer

This touching letter was hand-delivered around my neighborhood. Even in tragedy, Lisa Vakoff has the same problem as many of us – being heard. We hear you and are sorry for your loss…

(reprinted without revision)

Dear Neighbor,

Please indulge me and read this email string and letter.  It is a tough one.  My dear friend’s son, Dillon M. Vakoff, was murdered 9/11/22.  He was 27 years old and an Arvada Police Officer.  If you need a good cry while receiving incredible inspiration, I invite you to check out his memorial service on Utube.

I asked if there was anything I could do to help my friend with her grief and the most important thing to Lisa at this time was that I distribute this to all my family, friends & neighbors with a request that it be shared.  Lisa read her letter on 710 AM radio. If you would like this to share electronically, please email me at [email protected].  Deb Buck



I have had the sad and solemn honor of standing watch over the memorials for all three of these police officers. At each I have had members of the public openly lament these murders and question who is responsible and what can be done. People think that showing support for our officers means thanking them for their service. While kind, that is not what officers need. I will answer those questions and tell you what officers need at the end of this post. 

This post will probably piss off a number of people. Good. We should all be mad. I only ask that if you start reading it you finish it. Short on time? Save it for later. Pissed at me? Keep reading. 

None of these officers should be dead right now. They died because of the failure of our criminal justice system, the failure of district attorneys and judges, the failure of our mental healthcare system (or complete lack thereof), the failure of politicians, the failure of parents and families, the failure of our public school system and the failure of the public in general. 

We have a criminal justice system that is designed to protect criminals, not the general public. Let me give you an example. The POS that shot and killed Officer Dillon Vakoff had already been convicted of attempted 2nd degree murder. Rather than spending 15 years in an adult prison (which he was eligible for), he was sentenced to 6 years in juvenile detention. 

I’ll touch on lax sentencing in a moment, but why do we have a system that treats a person who tries to kill someone differently than someone that succeeds in killing someone? Why should it matter if they succeeded? They have no business walking our streets to try again. 

As far as lax sentencing, that is on our DAs and our judges. When I see sentences dumbed down so that DAs can maintain perfect or near perfect conviction rates I think we should fire them. I could give a crap what their records are. I want criminals locked up. If that means taking greater risks, so be it. 

I am also sick and tired of judges who give chance after chance after chance to thugs and murderers. They deserve as many second chances as they gave their victims. NONE. The judges should be kicked out of their jobs if they can’t do them. 

Our mental healthcare system in this country is pathetic. We have taken the burden of mental healthcare and very, very sick people and dropped it straight on the shoulders of our police departments and prison systems. They are not equipped to handle that kind of burden and we are failing the officers and the mentally ill. I am including a link to a show, “Insight with John Ferrugia: Breakdown”. He and the team do a fantastic job of showing vividly how the system is broken. The episode is an Emmy winner and I cannot encourage you enough to watch it. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/uCDlNDc8IiA

Politicians. These are the people tasked with creating our laws. They are some of the worst offenders with regard to failure. The laws they have created and the changes they have made to existing ones is systematically destroying our country. One need only look at the extraordinary increases in crime rates in the last few years to know this is true. They need to be individually and collectively held accountable for their failures. 

You cannot point blame without focusing closely on the parents. Your son is suicidal? What kind of moron goes and buys them a gun 2 years later? They rightly should be held accountable for the actions of their child as should all parents enabling children to commit crimes. This would include things like leaving your kids unsupervised to run rampant around our streets. 

Officer Dillon Vakoff was killed after responding to a call at 1:45am. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. After an officer is killed he is prepared for transport to the Coroner’s Office. Police will escort his/her remains the entire way. Let me tell you something you probably don’t know. While officers were escorting his remains, just hours after his death, a call came in for everyone to hear. Another “Unknown Disturbance” call to the EXACT SAME ADDRESS where Dillon was murdered. Can you imagine being one of those officers listening or having to respond?!?! What kind of people do that??? Talk about the POS not falling far from the tree. 

Let’s talk about our school systems. There are public school systems around this country that have “Zero Tolerance” fighting policies. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, who started it, why it was started and who ended it. If there is a fight all students are held equally accountable. It’s bullshit. 

Both Dillon and my oldest son had similar experiences when they attended elementary school. Both saw a bully picking on a weaker, smaller child. Both Dillon and my son went up to them and stopped it. They didn’t start the fight, they ended it. That is how it should be. But according to the school administrators they were in the wrong and both were suspended. How screwed up is it that they were suspended for doing the right thing?

Predators who prey on the weak must be stopped at an early age. To hold the “sheepdogs” that protect the herd accountable with them is disgusting. The kids willing to stand up should be rewarded instead. I am sick and tired of school systems that teach our society to be weak victims from an early age. There are kids in this world that need the shit kicked out of them. Hats off to the kids willing to stand up to bullies and predators and do it. 

Now the big reveal. Who really is responsible for the deaths of these three fine officers and so many more? We are. You and me. We have failed them miserably. We haven’t had their backs. 

You and I have elected the politicians, judges, DAs, and school board members. You and I have failed to fund a proper mental healthcare system in this country. You and I have sent and continue to send officers into harms way without doing our part in keeping them safe. 

So what does an officer really mean when they say they need our support? Well, it doesn’t mean they need us to thank them. It means that we need to tell them this the next time we see one. And we need to follow through. 

“Officer, thank you for your service. I want you to know something. We have failed you. We have elected politicians, judges, DAs, and school board members, among others, that have created a failed system. I promise you I will have your back going forward by actively voting for politicians who will implement the criminal justice reform needed to keep violent and career criminals off of our streets, by voting for DAs and judges who will uphold our laws and place the safety of our law abiding citizens above those of the criminal and by voting for people who will teach our children to be contributing members of our society. I am sorry we have been failing you, but I will not stand idly by any more.”

Subject: Lisa’s Letter

I, Lisa Vakoff, come from a long line of Military…..and proud to say so. On my father’s side of the family:
My great grandfather, who was from Bulgaria, immigrated to the United States and became a legal citizen. He left the United States to fight for his homeland in Bulgaria during the Balkan war and proudly on horseback I might add. 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 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 CONSTITUTION 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, but I put on my cheerleading outfit, and I supported 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?