Dave and Zane’s Law

Purpose

Dave and Zane’s Law creates the first federal standard requiring trauma-informed policing, coercive-control recognition, and officer wellness protections nationwide. It protects survivors, children, and the officers who serve them. The law honors Detective David Martinovich and Officer Zane Coolidge

The Problem

Across the U.S., victims of intergenerational trauma, domestic violence, child abuse, coercive control, and trafficking are routinely misidentified as offenders. Officers respond without appropriate training, courts rely on flawed reports, and systems inadvertently reward abusers. This leads to:

• Wrongful arrests and criminalization of victims

• Victims miscategorized as “mentally unstable”

• Loss of custody to abusers

• Institutional retaliation and wrongful psychiatric holds

• Violent escalations

• Officer injury and death

• Breakdowns in community trust

  Domestic violence and coercive-control calls are the most dangerous for police, yet officers receive little trauma-informed training or training in coercive control dynamics.

Creation of a National Standard

All departments must adopt federal trauma-informed policing (TIP) protocols, including:

• Neurobiology of trauma

• Coercive control (the strongest predictor of homicide and officer injury)

• Domestic & family violence dynamics

• Child abuse and custodial interference

• Technology-facilitated abuse

• Cultural competency and implicit bias

• Trauma-oriented de-escalation and interviewing

• Specialized DV and coercive-control response teams trained to handle the highest-risk calls