Dave and Zane’s Law

The Trauma-Informed Police Training Act (DRAFT)

Section 1. Title

Section 2. Congressional Findings

Section 3. Purpose

This Act shall be known as “Zane and Dave's Law: The Trauma-Informed Policing and Protection Act.”

Congress finds that:

1. Exposure to trauma affects memory, compliance, and emotional regulation, often misinterpreted by law enforcement.

2. Trauma responses are biological and subconscious. Many perpetrators began as victims. Trauma responses often result in counter intuitive behavior, and misidentification of an individual experiencing a trauma response often results in escalation not deescalation. Appropriate identification of a trauma responses provides law enforcement with alternative means of approach and interaction, allowing for cooperation and faster resolution without use of force.

3. Trauma-informed policing (TIP) improves community safety, enhances victim cooperation, and reduces incidents of excessive force and officer misconduct.

4. Victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking are often retraumatized or criminalized by untrained responders.

5. Trauma-informed training improves investigative outcomes.

6. Law enforcement officers also face high levels of occupational trauma, vicarious exposure, and coercive institutional cultures that discourage help-seeking.

7. Officers who witness corruption, misconduct, or systemic abuse often lack whistleblower protections, trauma supports, or policy pathways to safely intervene.

8. Evidence from international and domestic studies—including the Queensland ISACURE Program—shows measurable improvements in case resolution, victim cooperation, and officer wellness.

9. Federal oversight of training mandates remains inconsistent across jurisdictions, particularly in child protection cases, trafficking investigations, and family courts.

DRAFT 10. Survivors, including the complainant, have documented failures in both Maricopa County (AZ) and Lake County (IL) where trauma was misinterpreted, discredited, or weaponized.

11. Trauma-informed response training must be paired with federal funding requirements, civil rights enforcement, and structural accountability for systemic coercion.

12. Without mandatory training, individuals in crisis are more likely to be arrested, retraumatized, or harmed by law enforcement.

The purpose of this legislation is to establish trauma-informed policing as a national standard for law enforcement training, response, and accountability.

This law ensures officers are equipped to respond to trauma-exposed individuals in ways that reduce harm, improve public safety, and uphold civil rights, achieved by:

Mandate standardized, trauma-informed training for all federally funded law enforcement personnel.

• Incorporate coercive control, trafficking dynamics, and survivor psychology into officer training.

• Improve interagency responses across police, CPS/DCS/DCFS, and behavioral health.

• Establish trauma audit requirements and federal tracking of officer-perpetrated violence.

• Protect whistleblower officers, victim-advocate responders, and child welfare reporters from retaliation.

• Reduce child removals for profit, family court fraud, and trafficking via psychiatric systems.

• Prevent further deaths by suicide, homicide, overdose, or systemic negligence among both survivors and officers.

Curriculum Includes:

  • Neurobiology of trauma

  • Coercive control indicators

  • Domestic violence, child abuse, and trafficking dynamics

  • Digital and technology-facilitated abuse

  • Trauma-informed interviewing

  • Implicit bias and cultural competency

  • Interagency collaboration

  • Specialized DV teams curriculum (advanced track