(09/27/06) SHIRLEY - Suffolk County police honed their counterterrorism skills with a full-scale drill Wednesday.

The exercise, named Operation Tri-Foil, was designed to prepare Suffolk police for the threat of a dirty bomb, or radiological weapon. The drill began with a phone tip and officers pursued the fake bomb throughout the day. Police pulled over trucks for inspection on the Long Island Expressway and later followed planted clues to a Shirley house where the dirty bomb had been ?made.?

The New York State Homeland Security Department issued a grant to help pay for the $150,000 operation. Lawmakers say prepared emergency response to terrorism is critical and the money was well spent.