LEWISTON – The cops did not mean to alarm anybody. They certainly didn’t mean to cause panic around the city. It was only a training exercise to give officers, rescue crews and school officials a glimpse into the horror of a school shooting.

The performance at the Lewiston High School Friday was very effective. So effective, in fact, that some people thought real bullets were flying at the school.

Those who planned the drill strived for realism. Anyone tuned into a police scanner at about 11 a.m. might have thought a shoot-out was under way.

“You could hear gunshots in the background. You could hear screaming,” said Lewiston police Lt. Tom Avery. “We wanted to see how the teachers, the principal and the students would respond to such an incident. We also wanted to see how our officers and emergency personnel would handle it.”

However, no students were actually involved in the exercise. Police conducted the drill as though there were students present.

Lewiston school officials had asked Lewiston police to conduct the training exercise. The mock scene was worked out with ranking police officers and school officials.

The cops who responded to the school were not prepared for the drill. They were not told what they were going into. The press was not invited. No formal announcements were made, alerting people that the drill would commence.

“In order to keep some semblance of realism, we couldn’t go out and announce it to everyone,” said deputy police Chief Michael Bussiere. “We really wanted to gauge how the officers and emergency personnel would respond.”

The screams coming over the police scanner during the training exercise were frantic. Wails of fright and urgency squealed across the airwaves. Officers moved through the halls of the school while an actor/gunman opened fire. They found atrocities at every step.

A school official had been shot in the stomach, according to screaming officers in the scenario. Two cops were down. There was confusion and panic. The blast of gunfire continued.

“I listened to the whole thing,” said Avery, who had a chance to review the audio recordings long after the drill was over. “It sounded like a real emergency situation.”

That’s where the problem began. Residents tuned into fire or rescue channels on a police radio picked up tidbits of the action. They called the newspaper, city and school officials or emergency dispatchers. Some even called the Lewiston School Department superintendent directly to find out what was going on.

“I had a call or two from people who heard this on the scanner,” said Superintendent Leon Levesque.

It may have caused fright for some who did not know it was all a stage performance. But police and school officials said the training is necessary to prepare for something as terrible and complicated as a gunman opening fire in a school.

There were no students in the high school while the training exercise was underway. But the officers who responded proceeded as though there were hundreds of teens at risk.

“In the post-Columbine era, it’s meant to test both the police officers and the school department,” Avery said. “We wanted the element of surprise. We wanted our officers to get that experience.”

Levesque said the school department works frequently with police on matters that may involve the safety of children.

During the drill, police called for back-up for officers who were not on-duty at the time. Detectives were called in, as were off-duty firefighters.

It’s the kind of training the cops will do over and over again. They will practice and practice and sharpen their skills. They will review their performance and start all over again.

In spite of the “War of the Worlds” air of confusion caused by the training, police insist such drills are vital for emergency crews to keep their skills honed. Friday’s exercise, they said, was a success.

“Now, we can look back and evaluate what went wrong, what went right and what we could do better in the future,” Avery said. “That was the purpose of the whole thing.

“It’s something none of us ever wants to experience, as parents or police officers,” Avery said. “I have two kids of my own that go to that school. Personally, I’m glad we are working to prepare for such a situation.”