There’s a certain skill to kicking in doors and arresting drug dealers.

There’s also a great deal of training that goes into it, as well.

This week, some 17 law enforcement officers from local, state and surrounding agencies participated in the training exercise hosted at the Wilbur W. Williams Law Enforcement Training Center.

Taught using a technique called “scenario-based training,” officers conducted hands-on extraction missions.

“The purpose of this training is to successfully extricate undercover officers from bad situations,” said Lt. Paul Hudson, with the Andalusia Police Department. “Simply, that means teaching people to get in and out safely while taking down the bad guy.”

And locals may have noticed the exercises being conducted at the old Cedar Apartments near Church’s Chicken. Men armed and in riot gear have spent the last five days practicing a number of techniques – including entry and extraction – in addition to classroom time.

Chief Williams said the class, while hosted by the Andalusia Police Department, was brought by Investigative Techniques Unlimited and sponsored by the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy. It is designed to train surveillance officers, undercover officers and other investigators how to plan undercover missions and what to do when things go wrong.

Officers with the APD, the Alabama Beverage Control Board and Dothan, Brewton, Geneva and Defuniak Springs, Fla., police departments participated.