Tisbury police and the Martha’s Vineyard tactical response team were called to a Daggett avenue home in Vineyard Haven Wednesday morning.

It was only a drill when the tactical response team swarmed the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School campus Thursday morning.

A Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response Team training exercise Thursday at the Edgartown Cinema offered both a somber reminder of recent terrorism and a reassuring sense that Island law enforcement is as prepared as possible for such events.

Police knew it was a drill. But when a 911 call reporting an active shooter inside the Edgartown School came in Saturday morning, the response was just like the real thing.

The Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response team, a highly trained group of police officers, was created to quickly respond to emergencies on a geographically isolated Island. But last week the team was called to join officers from around the state in a large manhunt for one of the suspects in the Boston marathon bombing.

Friday’s massive manhunt in Watertown for Boston marathon bombings suspect included members of the Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response team.

Edgartown police chief Antone Bettencourt said Monday that the Island team, a highly-skilled group of officers from most Island police departments, was called to Boston last Friday to assist with a search for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Members of the Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response Team are headed to Boston today to provide relief for those who responded to Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Oak Bluffs Lt. Tim Williamson told the Gazette that he and other members of the tactical team were headed to Boston on Wednesday afternoon for a 12-hour shift, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The newly created Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response Team was dispatched for the first time on Saturday to assist West Tisbury police with a warrant arrest of a man with a history of violent crime.

On Friday police were notified by the Barnstable superior court probation department of a probation warrant for William F. Campbell, who lives on Great Pond Road. Police said that Mr. Campbell had violated probation by not keeping his personal tracking unit on; his whereabouts were unknown.

Island police this week announced the new Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response Team, an elite, highly trained group of officers that will assist the police departments during critical incidents such as hostage situations, searches for armed subjects and civic disorder.