Army Capt. Juan A. Rodriguez, left, the 247 Military Police commander on Torii Station, and a San Antonio native, presents Lance Cpl. Frank C. Estabrook, right, a patrolman with the Provost Marshal's Office on Camp Foster, and a Kellyville, Okla., native, with a diploma following the Domestic Violence Intervention Training course held Aug. 24 - 28 on Torii Station. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Shelby R. Shields).

The course, originally an Army class taught at the Army Military Police School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., recently opened to military police from all branches, as well as family and victim advocates, chaplains and commanders.

"No matter how much training you have you can always pick up something new," said Larry Maxwell, the DVIT branch chief, and a course instructor.

DVIT is designed to provide advanced training to law enforcement personnel domestic violence first responders, according to the Army Military Police School Family Advocacy Law Enforcement Training Division course description.

Students learn investigation and intervention techniques, dynamics of domestic violence, psychological and legal aspects of domestic violence and what to do after responding to a domestic violence call.

"When you think about it, once the MPs are done, it's up to their commands to deal with the Marine, soldier, etcetera," Maxwell said.

After the five-day course students provide a course critique and received diplomas certifying training completion.

"It was a good group of students. They had a lot of good questions and constantly participated in the class," Maxwell said.

Lance Cpl. Frank C. Estabrook, a patrolman with the Provost Marshal's Office on Camp Foster, said he took more away from DVIT than just a diploma.

"The most important thing is knowledge. Knowledge is power." Estabrook said. "As responding MPs, our best weapon is not our guns or our batons, it's knowledge."