MALCOLM, Neb. (KLKN) – It was not your everyday scene inside the walls of a Malcolm Public School on Wednesday.

Instead of students, there were deputies and medics; training under the leadership of the Lancaster County Sheriff’s office.

You could feel the intensity in the air as participants remained focused on their lessons for the Active Violence and Medic Tactical training.

There were about 25 deputies and 15 medics taking part.

Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said as new deputies come in, the training becomes even more necessary to continue.

“We want to do one of these each year at one of the schools, you know, train for the worst and then hope for the best,” Houchin said.

The training allows first responders to learn the layout of school buildings while navigating an environment that closely resembles a real, violent scenario.

“It’s very well organized and I’m really proud, but again, we hope to never have to use it,” said Houchin.

The training was spearheaded by Deputy Sheriff John Brady, who has over 20 years of experience with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s office.

He first brought up the idea for the program to Sheriff Wagner and Chief Houchin’s attention over ten years ago.

Since its start, they’ve held it in the Norris, Waverly and Raymond School districts; attendees coming from over 12 different rural agencies and 80 different providers.

“These providers are EMT’s, they’re paramedics, they’re nurses, who all have regular jobs and who all work during the week,” said Brady.

“They are just dedicated to their community and are willing to kind of put themselves in an environment that they are certainly not used to.”

Over time, the program has become even more beneficial; including situations where participants go in and out of classrooms looking for a possible suspect.

A theme of the training? Coordination.

“Our law enforcement agencies are all working together and training together to make sure if this ever happens that we’re on top of it and we’re ready to react,” said Brady.