Screaming voices boomed from a sound system and flashing police lights pierced the dark.

Police recruits at the Basic Law Enforcement Academy attempted to locate and disengage armed suspects during a mock simulation May 20.

Federal Way police recruit Carl VanDyke and his peers completed a series of five training courses Thursday. The men and women have only a week left until they graduate from the academy. The simulations were designed to mirror real-life scenarios. The object of the exercises: Analyze the situation, decide a course of action and choose when to shoot and when not to shoot.

The day tested the recruits’ abilities and the skills they are supposed to have learned at the academy by this point. Mock weapons, actors and countless distractions were all part of the self-evaluated training.

“It kind of really brings together different aspects we’ve learned: Communicating with people, tactics, firearms training,” VanDyke said.

The recruits practiced talking a suicidal subject out of harming himself or herself while clearing a bar of bystanders caught up in the call; shutting down armed suspects during a call involving an injured officer and heart-racing distractions; and responding to an active shooter call, among other exercises.

When officers are called to the scene of an active shooter, such as past shootings that took place at the Tacoma Mall, Columbine High School and Virginia Tech University, they must treat the call like no other they typically respond to, Monroe police officer Reid Weaver said. There is no time to attempt to help the numerous victims, nor is there time to fully secure the building before rushing onto the scene, he told the recruits as they prepared for the simulation.

“There’s no time because every second you waste, people die,” Weaver said. “You just have to go to the sound of gunfire, or follow the blood trail or the spent cartridges.”

With instructions to “shoot the guy with the gun,” the recruits entered the simulation in pairs from opposite ends of the building. Mock guns that shot bullets with paint tips were used. Stuffed dummies, used bullet cartridges and a sectioned-off portion of the room challenged the recruits. Visible signs of increased heart rates and anxiety could be seen in their body language.

“There are times when you’re not going to have time to think, you’re just going to have to react,” Weaver told the recruits prior to the simulation.

Thinking they were working in partners, some of the recruits hesitated before realizing the active shooter in this scenario was the same guy or gal that had been their partner in previous simulations. VanDyke’s military background and quick thinking worked to his advantage. The scene was not what he expected, but it took only seconds for VanDyke to realize the recruit facing him was the mock suspect.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting,” VanDyke said. “I thought there would be someone hiding in the corner. In a situation like this, with my military background, when you’re that close and you don’t have cover right by you, you just charge them.”

The recruits ran through the scenario two times. The first attempt was done without limitations. The second time around, the men and women were lain flat and blinded with a towel. Their feet were bound with duct tape. The moves were done to teach the recruits to work around immobility.

At the conclusion of each simulation, instructors reviewed the recruits’ moves. Evaluating what could have been done differently and where mistakes were made was left up to the police hopefuls. At the end of the day, the men and women were left to contemplate whether their training has prepared them to become police officers.