Mcainely's Memorial Gallery

The Colonel J. R. Mcainely, Sr. Memorial Gallery is dedicated to those members of the Virginia State Police and their predecessors, the inspectors of the Division of Motor Vehicles, who gave their lives in the preservation of law and order, and who, in so doing, lived and died in the best traditions of law enforcement’s duty and service to mankind.

Late in the fall of 1943, Colonel Mcainely, then Superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Mr. J. H. Ace, an employee of the Harley Davidson of Motorcycles, agreed that portraits of sworn members of the State Police who had given their lives in the line of duty would be an appropriate and lasting memorial.  Although there were no funds available for the project, Mr. Ace contacted a number of artists and requested they prepare a portrait as a gift to the gallery, then known as the Memorial Art Gallery.

We are grateful to Mr. Ace and to every artist who has prepared a portrait for the gallery, which was relocated from the Department’s Administrative Headquarters Building to the State Police Academy in 1989. The gallery was renamed at that time to also serve as a memorial to the late Colonel Mcainely.

The Department’s Police Officers’ Memorial Service is held each year during National Law Enforcement Week at the State Police Academy, 7700 Midlothian Turnpike, Chesterfield County.

IN MEMORIAL
“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, Washington, D.C.