The Seventy-Third Session of the Virginia Forensic Science Academy has been conducted by the Department of Forensic Science under the auspices of the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The Forensic Science staff and visiting instructors are pleased to announce that Lieutenant Brandon S. Austin has successfully met all requirements and is hereby a graduate, on this day, June 27, 2008.

The Academy has as its objective the training of qualified crime scene search officers. Law enforcement personnel learn to properly recognize, collect, and preserve, for laboratory examination, items of physical evidence found at crime scenes. The student becomes familiar with the capabilities and limitations of the modern forensic laboratory in the examination of the broad spectrum of materials which can be collected as evidence in criminal cases.

The nine week course provides students with the necessary background information and practical application techniques which, coupled with the student's previous experience, permits maximum utilization of the forensic sciences to the Criminal Justice System of the Commonwealth.

"Committed to providing a safe and secure environment."