School shootings continue to be a problem across the nation.
Although it is difficult, law enforcement and first responders continue to devise contingency plans to prevent a violent rampage at their local schools.
Washington County officials got some valuable training Thursday morning, when they staged a surprise emergency exercise at Chipley High School.

Washington County agencies worked to make this simulated scenario as real as possible.
A gunman enters onto Chipley High School's campus and leads authorities on a chase.
The sequence of events was re-enacted several times with new elements introduced each time.

"This is what we call a functional exercise. It allows people to actually play. And we believe in the first responder world, you play like you practice, using live projectiles, encountering force-on-force or a bad guy so to speak," says Disaster Strategies and Ideas Representative Mike McHargue.

It's the first time the county has held such a large scale operation involving law enforcement, Fire Rescue, EMS and Emergency Operations.
The groups worked under stress and handled a variety of situations including multiple shooters, wounded victims and a hostage situation.
Officers went into each situation as though it were real: wearing helmets, vests and carrying guns.

"They can strike a bad guy with a projectile and they can also be struck. And that adds a dimension that you can never simulate on a tabletop exercise."

The color of the bullets distinguished the good guys from the bad ones.
Even though they only contained water, the impact was still strong enough to leave a mark.
All participants had to wear earplugs and sunglasses for protection against the gunshots.

WCSO Lieutenant Michael Qualls says, "the ammunition that you get shot with actually stings. It brings you to reality that you could be a victim in a situation like this."

At the end of each exercise, officers went through an evaluation and debriefing.

Chipley High School Principal Patricia Dickson says, "we saw where our vulnerabilities were, we saw where our weaknesses were and now we have a very good idea how we need to increase our practice for these things. We know where we need to improve our plan."

"I believe that every department across the nation should actually endure something like this."

A company called Disaster Strategies And Ideas organizes these types of exercises all across Florida and out-of-state.