The Suffolk Police Department recently announced that CSI Forensic Technician Tonja Thornton has graduated from the prestigious forensics training at the Virginia Forensic Science Academy located in Richmond.

The Virginia Forensic Science Academy is only available to sworn and civilian personnel of criminal justice agencies within the Commonwealth of Virginia whose duties include the collection of physical evidence. It is designed to give these personnel the necessary training to enable them to fully utilize the expertise of the Department of Forensic Science.

The nine-week school provides classroom instruction by qualified forensic experts and numerous practical exercises and evidence collection demonstrations. Only 12 students are accepted from around the state for each session where the latest in forensic techniques are studied.

The vast areas of study within the vigorous academic program include photography, crime scene investigation, arson evidence, toxicology, forensic biology, latent print evidence, trace evidence, toolmarks, firearms evidence and bullet trajectory, crime scene sketching, evidence law, drug recognition, impression evidence and criminal investigative analysis.

Thornton has been with the Suffolk Police Department for five years.