Our mission is to provide peer support to law enforcement officers who have been seriously injured or have had to use deadly force in the line of duty. We provide support, information, and resources to these officers and their families in any way possible, to assist them in transitioning after suffering these physical and emotional injuries.
Our mission is to share our collective knowledge with our fellow police officers, so they have the tools they need for their road to recovery. It is our goal to provide this support and experience, especially to assist police departments throughout New England in establishing the proper policies, procedures, and protocols for line of duty deaths and serious bodily injuries.
Our mission is to bring change to existing laws by working with law makers to pass legislation that will provide benefits to law enforcement officers who are injured in the line of duty and forced to retire.
We hope our stories inspire other officers to fight to better this world and that any injured officer can continue to be the best that they can be as productive members of their communities.
About Us
The Violently Injured Police Officers (V.I.P.O.) Organization, founded by Massachusetts police officers, is a support group for law enforcement officers who have sustained serious, permanent injuries during a violent encounter in the line of duty.
V.I.P.O. is a recognized non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
We Provide...
Peer support to law enforcement officers seriously injured in the line of duty and their families.
Mental health resources to officers injured in the line of duty.
Peer support to law enforcement officers who have had to use deadly force in the line of duty.
A source of information about benefits available to assist the law enforcement officers injured in the line of duty.
Assistance to police departments in establishing line of duty death/serious bodily injury policies, procedures, and protocols.
We Educate...
The public, police departments, and organizations about the unique problems facing law enforcement officers injured in the line of duty.
Law enforcement officers seriously injured in the line of duty about the process of 111F and special legislation retirement process.
Police recruits and in-service training police veterans about the inherent dangers of police work.
About appropriate services which may exist within federal, state, and local governments.
President and Co-Founder
Detective Mario Oliveira is retired from the Somerville Police Department where he served for 17 years. In November 2010, Detective Oliveira was shot six times while serving an arrest warrant in Somerville. Since that day, he has dedicated his time to educating and assisting other law enforcement officers and their families on the inherent dangers of police work and how to cope with the tragedy of being seriously or fatally injured in the line of duty. Detective Oliveira is also the Executive Director of New England C.O.P.S.
Read more about Mario's story...
Officer Bob DeNapoli
Co-founder
Officer Bob DeNapoli is retired from the Woburn Police Department, where he served for 17 years. In September 2011, Officer DeNapoli was shot several times while responding to an armed robbery at jewelry store. To better prepare police officers and their families on how to cope with the dangers of police work, Officer DeNapoli has devoted his time to V.I.P.O. and providing support to other officers who face the same difficulties.
Read more about Bob's story...
Vice President John D. Magulas
Vice President
Sergeant John D. Magulas now (retired) finished his 33rd year with the Essex County Sheriff's Dept 2024. He held the position of Deputy Sheriff, 21 of those years as a member of the K-9 Division.
Read more about John's story...
Secretary Trooper Brian Murphy
Secretary
Trooper Brian Murphy is retired from the Massachusetts State Police, where he served 9 years. On June 2, 2020 Tpr. Murphy was assisting the Brockton PD with a protest. Tpr. Murphy was struck in the head with a brick by one of the rioters that evening, leaving him with a Traumatic Brain Injury.
Treasurer
Detective Jon Stackhouse has been with the Acton Police Department for 15 years starting as an intern, dispatcher, part time police officer, fulltime patrol officer, then to detectives in 2013. Detective Stackhouse has been a strong advocate for V.I.P.O. over the last few years and was nominated for the V.I.P.O. advisory board committee in May of 2019.
Read more about Jon's story...
The On-Site Academy is a non-profit residential treatment and training center for critical incident stress management. They serve emergency service workers who are in distress.
The Quality of Life Plus program, known as QL+, was established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to foster and generate innovations to aid and improve the quality of life for those who have been injured in service to our country.
Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) trains prison inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, as well as explosive-detection canines for law enforcement. Puppies enter prison at the age of 8 weeks and live with their inmate puppy-raisers for approximately 24 months.
Officer Bob DeNapoli is retired from the Woburn Police Department, where he served for 17 years. In September 2011, Officer DeNapoli was shot several times while responding to an armed robbery at jewelry store. To better prepare police officers and their families on how to cope with the dangers of police work, Officer DeNapoli has devoted his time to V.I.P.O. and providing support to other officers who face the same difficulties.
Read more about Bob's story...
