Suffolk Police Department’s Forensic Unit, led by Lurena Huffman, has been approved for re-accreditation by the American National Standards Institute/American Society of Quality Control.

In 2016, the unit received the first accreditation of a forensic unit in Hampton Roads.

Huffman, the Suffolk Police Department Forensic Unit leader, served as a police officer for eight years and forensic investigator for six years with the Norfolk Police Department before coming to Suffolk in March 2014.

There are limited accreditation bodies in the United States for forensics, and this particular body was chosen for accreditation because it has an outstanding reputation and is responsible for the Department of Forensic Science Lab accreditations, according to a city press release.

Suffolk was only the second forensic unit in Virginia to achieve the accreditation when they received the honor in 2016.

Accreditation is based on assessment of an agency’s technical qualifications and competence for conducting specific testing, calibration, and/or inspection activities within the scope of the accreditation and any relevant field-specific standards included in amplification documents.