Silverdale corrections officers, special operations team members, Chattanooga police hostage negotiators and emergency responders took part this morning in a simulated gang fight and hostage situation at the detention center.

Students from Virginia College and some corrections officers acted as gang members who started a fight in the recreation yard and took two officers hostage, drawing gunfire and smoke screens from law enforcement personnel.

Gang members taunted police, calling them “rent-a-cops” and shouting obscenities.

“A lot of this we didn’t try to plan, because you don’t get the same benefits if it’s scripted,” said Silverdale public information officer Elijah Light.

The simulation took two hours, and law enforcement personnel then evaluated what went right and what could be better.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.