Emergency officials say a drill that simulated a terroristattack at the courthouse provided a good chance to test theirskills Tuesday, but improving communications is an issue thatrequires their constant attention.

“Overall, it was a good drill,” said Jane Jones, King’sDaughters Medical Center nurse manager, about the activity thatbegan around 4:30 Tuesday when two “terrorists” stormed thegovernment complex.

Local law enforcement, hospital and fire officials responded tothe drill that featured a hostage situation, a wide variety ofsimulated injuries and even reports of anthrax exposure. Officialsdescribed the drill as very helpful and a positive experience.

“I think we did good, but I see some improvements we need todo,” said Brookhaven Police Chief Arlustra “Pap” Henderson, who wassituation commander for the mock event.

Execution of the drill earned good marks from Joel Langford,exercise training coordinator with the Mississippi EmergencyManagement Agency (MEMA), who was on hand to observe. He said thedrill involved all emergency response units, identified areas ofimprovement and accomplished the drill’s objective.

“It was a success,” Langford said. “The bad guys were taken outwith a minimum number of hostages killed.”

Following a debriefing with participating agencies after thedrill concluded around 6 p.m., Jones and Lincoln County CivilDefense Coordinator Clifford Galey said communications issues werea topic of discussion. He said various agencies were able tocommunicate, but there is always room for improvement.

“When you have problems with communication, you have problemswith people not knowing what they need to know at the proper time,”Galey said.

Langford also mentioned communication.

“It’s a team effort,” Langford said. “The main thing is to geteverybody to communicate with each other.”

One communication issue cited was that all local emergencyresponse agencies, except the city police and highway patrol, have”high band” radio capability. Galey indicated that was not a majorflaw, but direct communication was not possible in someinstances.

“They could still communicate. They just had to do it in a roundabout way,” Galey said.

Henderson said the radio situation was a matter of funding andalso whether agencies would all use high band or low bandcommunications.

“We just have to do the best we can until we can do better,”Henderson said.

Jones said the hospital needed to address some communicationconcerns on its end. She said the radio signal from emergencyresponders at the government complex was strong but became weak atKDMC.

“It kept breaking up at the hospital,” Jones said.

Jones also said the hospital will take another look at itspolicy regarding declaration of a “Code Black” emergency. She saidstaff would look at making the declaration more situation-oriented,where a high number of patients is possible, instead of based onthe actual number of patients arriving at the facility.

“We were a little slow, probably, in calling a Code Black hereat the hospital,” Jones said.

Otherwise, Jones said there was a great response at thehospital. She said 17 doctors and other staff members wereavailable if needed.

Galey also complimented the hospital on its handling of”anthrax-contaminated” patients.

“The hospital did an excellent job of sealing it off and notletting them in,” Galey said.

In police action, Henderson said he was pleased with a quickmobilization of the department’s SWAT team and other officers inestablishing a perimeter to keep citizens away from the governmentcomplex.

During the drill, there was a question of whether the SWAT teamwas killed while entering the building. The “terrorists” insideclaimed they were, but Henderson maintained a police sniper outsideprovided sufficient cover to protect the SWAT team. Officials ruledthe SWAT team was not killed.

Henderson suggested a referee was needed to make suchdeterminations during the activity. Galey agreed.

“We need an objective observer, or referee, put in specificplaces to monitor progress and make sure the drill is going like weplanned it,” Galey said.

During the event, city fire department personnel were on sceneto assist in removing “victims” from the complex, and countyvolunteer firefighters and first responders helped with medicalneeds. Highway patrol troopers blocked several intersection betweenthe government complex and the hospital.

Galey expressed appreciation to all participating agencies andthe private citizens who volunteered to be patients for thedrill.

Jones said a main comment during the debriefing was howrealistic some of the injuries appeared. She added that officialswanted to get together for drills more often.

“It hones your skills when you get out there and do it,” Jonessaid. “It was our most realistic drill.”

Jones said planning is under way for future drills. In thefuture, she said, officials may want to try and involve surroundingcommunities to test coordination between agencies andhospitals.

One concerns of officials prior to the drill was response fromthe general public during the activity. Galey said there were fewcalls and no interference from the public.

“Evidently, people were well-informed and knew what was goingon,” Galey said.