Local, state and federal agencies were represented Tuesday in a mock training exercise at Milford Lake.

According to Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf the exericse simulated a capsized boat that had caught fire  with two juvenile subjects ( objects ) that went into the water and disappeared. Authorities then conducted a simulated search for a body ( object ).  “We treated this just as a normal call. The good thing was we didn’t let all the Deputies know that this was going to happen so we sat back and gauged their response, how they responded, how they took the ball and ran with it once they got here.”

Wolf said the Deputies responded very well. “Everybody got here, they surrounded the area, they got eyes on the target, if you will out there. Boats were used to mark the area for the search portion of the exercise. PBC pipe was used to resemble one mock human figure ( victim ) and wood and rock for the other one.

The sheriff noted that after the call went out everybody tried to respond with lights and sirens but a radio message was quickly sent out and those were shut down. They then responded code one without the lights and sirens. At that point it was known that it was a drill in progress, but Wolf said they “took the ball and ran with it very well.”

The Geary County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff’s Posse, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Geary County Emergency Management, Kansas Wildlife and Parks Natural Resource Officers and Milford State Park personnel plus the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center participated in the exercise. In addition to boats the Sheriff’s Department also used their drone during their exercise, flying it over the search area. And the law enforcement command vehicle was taken to the site just off the South Boat Ramp at Milford State Park.