Local Officer Graduates from National Forensic Academy | Crime

Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder is pleased to announce the recent graduation of Detective / Crime Scene Investigator Steven W. Hulsey from a prestigious forensic training school.

Detective/C.S.I. Steven W. Hulsey, a sixteen year veteran of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, was among 25 law enforcement professionals to graduate recently from Session 30 of the University of Tennessee National Forensic Academy™ (NFA™) in Knoxville, Tennessee.  He is the second deputy from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to attend this world-renowned program.

The NFA is one of the nation's premier training grounds for crime scene investigators. A program of the UT Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC), the NFA is a 10-week, in-residence training program.  It includes training conducted at the world famous “Body Farm” formally known as the Forensic Anthropology research center.  Select crime scene investigators from law enforcement organizations around the world learn about evidence identification, collection and preservation. Two sessions are held each year, and each involves 400 hours of training: 150 hours of class work, 240 hours of field exercises and 10 hours of skills assessment and evaluation.

The National Forensic Academy held its first session in 2001. Since then, the academy has graduated more than 543 law enforcement professionals from 47 states, the District of Columbia and Iceland. Two law enforcement personnel from the General Department of Criminal Evidence in Kuwait City, Kuwait were also among the Session 30 graduates.  The NFA receives funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

In August 2008, the academy opened a new training facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The new 7,000-square-foot space includes an interactive classroom, a laboratory, photography lab and a specially designed experiment room where CSIs can learn to better evaluate blood evidence and practice various forensic investigative techniques.