HAGERSTOWN, MD - They train with the best to prepare for the worst. Washington County's Special Response Team is always on call to handle the most intense situations.

Whether someone is taken hostage or a shooter is on the loose, SRT officers have the tools and the training to end the problem safely.

Here's the training scenario: two rival motorcycle gangs get in a fight.  They each take a hostage -- and take over Hagerstown's old Midtown Motel.

Lt. Mike King, the team commander, says, "We try to test ourselves, so we make them far more difficult usually than we hope to encounter."

The people who are playing "the bad guys" try their best to test the team.

"In training we do it over and over and over.  So many of these situations we have come out and said, just like in training, it happened just like in training," King adds.

The team has eyes inside and out, and behind the tactics and maneuvers are the negotiators, who make a connection with "the bad guys," trying to make a deal.

"Talking is an art, and you either have it or you don't," says Captain Mark Holtzman with the Hagerstown Police Department.  "When the SWAT team rolls, the negotiators roll with us.  We're a big package deal."

It all takes time, but each move is made carefully and cautiously, putting safety first.

Holtzman explains, "If lives aren't being lost, then we don't want to jeopardize any lives.  So unless there's an imminent threat for us to go into, we're not going to go in there like a bunch of heroes and try to rescue anybody."

A new method for the team: opening doors with explosives.  It sounds dangerous, but it's actually safer.  Officers don't have to stand in front of the open door, unsure of what's on the other side.

The Special Response Team is made up of officers from Hagerstown City Police and the Washington County Sheriff's Department.  They train at least twice a month.