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MISSOULA- Officers, educators, health professionals and community members who work with domestic violence victims were recognized for their efforts on Wednesday.

The Missoula Family Violence Council honored the people who are dedicated to serving victims, holding suspects accountable and preventing future violence.

Seeley Lake Fire Chief Frank Maradeo was among those recognized, for training volunteers to become crime victim advocates in a new program launched earlier in 2012.

"It seemed like a natural fit that we would understand and deal with people not only from an emergency medical standpoint for domestic violence victims, but also to understand their whole situation," Maradeo said.

The Seeley Lake advocate program was three years in the making, and has been running since the spring.