Law enforcement officers from across the Valley took part in training exercises as part of a federal mandate preparing them for critical incidents such as hostage situations and school shootings.

FX rounds lined the floors of Turner Ashby High School in Rockingham County Tuesday. Police officers and sheriff's deputies from Rockingham County, Harrisonburg, and Bridgewater practiced for the worst.

Sgt. Shane Brown, Harrisonburg Police Department, says, "We have an obligation to reasonably predict bad instances that could occur in our jurisdiction."

SWAT teams typically handle crisis situations. However, this new training program wants to familiarize all officers with critical preparedness.

Sgt. J.R. Dodd, Bridgewater Police Department, adds, "Different people might be the first on the scene so they need to know what to do if they are the first one on the scene or the last one on the scene."

The program stems from the 9/11 tragedy and recent incidents such as the Virginia Tech shootings have ignited this type of training.

"Being professionals, we would be remiss if we didn't take opportunities to learn from some things just like that, and they did a lot of things really, really well. And that's what we are trying to make sure that we can do," says Brown.

It's training they hope not to use, but to be prepared. It is part of the job.

Dodd concludes, "With the changing world that we have going on right now, you got to do everything you can do to be up to speed and keep ahead of trends."