Retired Colonel Slane’s Legacy
Over the years, current and retired, sworn and civilian VSP personnel would drop off various items of interest and old photographs to the Superintendent’s Office and Academy for safekeeping and archival purposes. Too often these items ended up in filing cabinets or boxes that were then stashed in a closet.
VSP Superintendent, Ret. Colonel Denny M. Slane, recognized the importance of properly collecting and preserving these irreplaceable antiquities and various keepsakes, and their pivotal role in capturing the history of the Department and the people who built it. Ret. Colonel Slane worked tirelessly to make the Museum a reality, and a place of education and insight for individuals of all ages and interests to enjoy.
Denny Slane was born in 1924 in Paw Paw, West Virginia. He joined the Department of State Police as a Trooper in 1949, and attended the 17th Basic Trooper Session at the Virginia State Police Academy in Chesterfield County. After seven years assigned to patrol as a Trooper, he was promoted to Sergeant in 1956. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant in 1961 and Captain in 1969. He was appointed in 1977 by Virginia Governor Mills Godwin to lead the Department as Superintendent in 1977. He served in the capacity of Colonel for six years until his retirement from VSP in 1984. Ret. Colonel Slane passed away in 2010, but his legacy lives on through the Museum.