I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5221 
To require that States and localities receiving grants under the Edward 
Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program require law enforce-
ment officers to undergo training on and thereafter employ de-escalation 
techniques to assist in reducing the need for the use of force by such 
officers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 12, 2016 
Ms. MOORE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To require that States and localities receiving grants under 
the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant 
Program require law enforcement officers to undergo 
training on and thereafter employ de-escalation tech-
niques to assist in reducing the need for the use of 
force by such officers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Tragedies 
Between Police and Communities Act of 2016’’. 
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SEC. 2. TRAINING ON DE-ESCALATION FOR LAW ENFORCE-
MENT. 
(a) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year 
after the expiration of the period specified in subsection 
(d) in which a State or unit of local government receives 
a grant under part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con-
trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et 
seq.), the State or unit of local government shall require 
that all individuals enrolled in an academy of a law en-
forcement agency of the State or unit of local government 
and all law enforcement officers of the State or unit of 
local government fulfill a training session on de-escalation 
techniques each fiscal year, including— 
(1) the use of alternative non-lethal methods of 
applying force and techniques that prevent the offi-
cer from escalating any situation where force is like-
ly to be used; 
(2) verbal and physical tactics to minimize the 
need for the use of force, with an emphasis on com-
munication, negotiation, de-escalation techniques, 
providing the time needed to resolve the incident 
safely for everyone; 
(3) the use of the lowest level of force that is 
a possible and safe response to an identified threat, 
then re-evaluating the threat as it progresses; 
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(4) techniques that provide all officers with 
awareness and recognition of mental health and sub-
stance abuse issues with an emphasis on commu-
nication strategies, training officers simultaneously 
in teams on de-escalation and use of force to im-
prove group dynamics and diminish excessive use of 
force during critical incidents; 
(5) principles of using distance, cover, and time 
when approaching and managing critical incidents, 
and elimination of the use of concepts like the ‘‘21- 
foot rule’’ and ‘‘drawing a line in the sand’’ in favor 
of using distance and cover to create a ‘‘reaction 
gap’’; 
(6) crisis intervention strategies to appro-
priately identify and respond to individuals suffering 
from mental health or substance abuse issues, with 
an emphasis on de-escalation tactics and promoting 
effective communication; and 
(7) other evidence-based approaches, found to 
be appropriate by the Attorney General, that en-
hance de-escalation skills and tactics, such as the 
Critical Decision-Making Model and scenario based 
trainings. 
In the case of individuals attending an academy, such 
training session shall be for such an appropriate amount 
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of time as to ensure academy participants receive effective 
training under this subsection and in the case of all other 
law enforcement officers, the training session shall be for 
an appropriate amount of time as to ensure officers receive 
effective training under this subsection. The State or unit 
of local government shall certify to the Attorney General 
of the United States that such training sessions have been 
completed. 
(b) 
SCENARIO-BASED
TRAINING.—Training 
de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall be conducted with an em-
phasis on training that employs theories of de-escalation 
techniques and applies them to practical on-the-job sce-
narios that regularly face law enforcement officers. 
(c) CROSS-TRAINING.—To the extent practicable, 
principles of training as described in subsection (a) shall 
be applied to other training conducted at the academy. 
(d) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 
(1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Beginning not later 
than 1 year after the date of this Act, each State 
or unit of local government receiving a grant shall 
comply with subsection (a), except that the Attorney 
General may grant an additional 6 months to a 
State or unit of local government that is making 
good faith efforts to comply with such subsection. 
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(2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—For any fiscal 
year after the expiration of the period specified in 
paragraph (1), a State or unit of local government 
that fails to comply with subsection (a), shall, at the 
discretion of the Attorney General, be subject to not 
more than a 20-percent reduction of the funds that 
would otherwise be allocated for that fiscal year to 
the State or unit of local government under subpart 
1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 
and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et 
seq.), whether characterized as the Edward Byrne 
Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assist-
ance Programs, the Local Government Law Enforce-
ment Block Grants Program, the Edward Byrne Me-
morial Justice Assistance Grant Program, or other-
wise. 
(e) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under a 
program referred to in subsection (b)(2) to a State or unit 
of local government for failure to fully comply with sub-
section (a) shall be reallocated under that program to 
States and units of local government that have not failed 
to comply with such subsection. 
(f) EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES.—For purposes of 
subsection (a)(4), the Attorney General shall maintain a 
list of evidence-based practices it determines is successful 
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