Our Mission
The Detective WenJian Liu Foundation’s mission is to help strengthen the emotional state of immediate family members of Law Enforcement Officers in coping with the stress of their tragic loss by providing a highly trained therapeutic dog. The foundation recognizes the deterioration of mental health need for families of Line Of Duty deaths. Read our full mission statement here and Detective WenJian Liu’s story here.
Board Members
Peixia Chen Liu
President/Chair
Peixia Chen Liu is the wife of New York City Police Officer and hero, WenJian Liu. Wen Jian Liu was brutally murdered on December20, 2014 along with his partner Police Officer Rafael Ramos. When WenJian passed away, she received emotional support from her dog, Liu. Liu brought strength and hope back to her life. Through this experience, she realized her calling in life—to give and care for others who have gone through similar difficulties. Peixia wants to be able to share her experiences to help others, especially the families of those in the line of duty who are going through heartbroken times.
Two years after her husband’s death, she gave birth to their beautiful daughter, Angelina. Peixia wishes that one day Angelina will know her father was a hero, and she hopes that WenJian’s legacy lives on through this foundation.
John Valles
CEO
John Valles is a military veteran who served in the US Navy and NY Army National Guard from 1972 to 1990. John is also the president of The Traffic Squad Benevolent Association, the oldest NYPD fraternal organization. He attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice and is a retired NYPD Director of Traffic Enforcement.
John served in the NYPD from 1996 through 2017 and he managed a force of 3500 Uniformed and Civilian employees. His responsibility included the enforcement of all Traffic Regulations City wide. Units Included: Parking Enforcement, Intersection Control, Towing, Construction Enforcement, Truck Enforcement, and Support the Movie TV Unit, and special events.
As an Assistant Commissioner in the Department of Transportation from 1990 to 1996, his responsibility included Traffic enforcement, Mayors’ Office Emergency Response, Borough Engineering, Street Maintenance, Street Lighting, Traffic Management Center, Authorized Highway towing, and Authorized Parking permits, Disability, and Agency Authorized Parking Spaces.
John also chaired the Law Enforcement Parking Permit for Local, State and Federal Agencies.
Joseph Fox
Co-chair
Joseph Fox spent 36 years with NYPD, 20 of those years as a police chief. He has a strong reputation for building teams and developing leaders and managers. Significant accomplishments in working with diverse communities and building police/community relations. Having done over 60 two day sessions of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” seminars, he is passionate about helping and witnessing people find the best versions of themselves. Joseph helps the community as a leader, executive coach and life coach.
Catherine Lee
Treasurer
Catherine Lee is a surviving mother of P.O. Kevin Lee, NYPD. Kevin died in the Line of Duty January 27, 2006. In addition to taking on the role of raising Kevin’s son Adam, she has volunteered as President of PTA at P.S. 127 from 2007 until 2011. She organized fundraisers for the school and is active in many charities involving the New York communities. In 2012 she was elected treasurer for the Metro New York Chapter of C.O.P.S. and has served in that position for two terms where her responsibilities include maintaining the financials for the Chapter including monthly reports, event function reports and annual reports. She is also presently serving in her second term of Vice President for Metro New York Chapter of C.O.P.S. Catherine is also a proud member of several NYPD fraternal organizations including Asian Jade Society,
Holy Name Society and New York State Shields. Catherine along with her family have also taken on the role of mentors to new Line of Duty families and have accompanied them to Washington Police Week and Parents National retreats.
Jennifer Whitney
Secretary
Jennifer Whitney was born in 1962 and raised in Manhattan. She moved to Brooklyn in 1988 and presently residing in Queens. Jennifer joined the NYPD in 1992 and was assigned to the 81 precinct from 1993 to 2009; Special Operations Division from 2009 to 2013; Police Commissioner’s Office and Deputy Commissioner of Administration from 2013 to 2018. She is a proud Mom of two adult children, three dogs, a bird and countless other children of all ages that she considers her own.