Photo by Travis Pratt Emergency service workers wheel a stretcher across the parking lot of the State Farm insurance building on Monocacy Boulevard in Frederick. A drill simulated a shooting at the State Farm insurance building, with emergency response from four city and county agencies.

The sound of gunfire and police response Friday off Monocacy Boulevard were not bad news, but preparation for it.

From 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., law enforcement and emergency management agencies from the city and county and State Farm Insurance employees collaborated on a drill. Gunshots and responding police and ambulances were part of a simulated emergency involving an intruder who was shooting people in the insurance building.

"This is becoming a threat for people everywhere," said Frederick Police Lt. Dennis Dudley.

The intent of the drill was to prepare for something like the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, or at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., said Dudley, commander of professional services for the Frederick Police Department.

Dudley coordinated the drill and response Friday by members of all the groups involved: Frederick police, Frederick city, Frederick County, Frederick County Fire and Rescue, and State Farm. Similar drills involving the agencies at other sites have taken place and are planned year-round, Dudley said.

"We look for opportunities to test our plans," Dudley said. "If you have a plan and you don't test it, you might not find problems with your plan."

Before the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, Frederick had been planning a drill that took place in August at Frederick Community College. It went well, Dudley said.

The drill at State Farm allowed the company to test its own preparedness. That involved an evacuation of the building while police and medical personnel responded to the scene and to the injured, played by State Farm employee volunteers.

In accordance with the drill, at approximately 9 a.m. State Farm security staff called 911 to report "an active shooter," Dudley said.

Frederick police responded. Witnessing shots fired, police returned fire with blanks and simulated killing the shooter, Dudley said.

Reporting shots fired, not just threats, initiates a specific emergency response, different from a barricade situation, for example, Dudley said.

When a "high-threat" call goes out, all available officers and emergency management personnel would respond, he said.

As long as emergency responders are doing something they have trained to do, they remain calm in the midst of unsettling and dangerous situations, he said.

The Columbine shootings in 1999 prompted new responses to events, he said.

"We've changed the way we train our officers," Dudley said.

Also, he said that as part of Homeland Security responsibilities, the local agencies must conform to the National Incidence Management System. Its guidelines help the various agencies meld into one during emergencies, Dudley said.

With so many on a scene coordination could get complicated without a plan.

The goal is to have a unified command, Dudley said. "You never lose control of your own people."

He said final reports from outside evaluators would come later.

The drill went "very well," he said at the end of the day. "Better than I expected. É I heard a lot of good things."

"Everybody was exchanging information and communicating."