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PROTECTIVE ORDERS
A protective order is only a piece of paper, it cant protect you from anything. If you think this is true, your right. The truth is that you are responsible for your own protection. So you may be wondering why you should go to the trouble of getting a protective order. The answer is that it is a tool the police can use to teach your stalker to behave properly towards you.
I will first explain the basics about protective orders, then talk about how the police use it to change your stalker's bevavior.
To get a protective order you do not need an attorney, you can go to your courthouse and apply for one on your own. In most states there is no charge for a protective order. The application is available at the courthouse. In my city you can also download the application off the internet so you can fill it out at home when your comfortable and have access to the info you will need for the application. Check your county or court website to see if you can download one.
After you fill out the application, it takes a couple days for it to be taken before a judge for review. If the judge believes, from your application, that there is danger of domestic violence, he will issue a Temporary Protective Order(TPO) which is usually good for up to 30 days. In order for a judge to find a need for a TPO, he will require that there has been violence in the past, so be sure to describe any past violence on the application. Don't be shy when filling out the application. Nobody is going to see it except the parties involved, so tell the court all the details. Don't just say something vague, like, "I was battered". Describe what happened in detail. If you were hit, say "I was hit." If you were stabbed, say "he stabbed me." If he kept you in the bedroom and wouldn't let you leave, say so on the application.
The reason the initial TPO is only good for 30 days is because it is based solely on your side of the story. At the end of the initial TPO there will be a hearing before the judge in which your ex, also known as the adverse party, will be allowed to tell their side of the story. You may bring an attorney if you want but you don't have to. This hearing is just for you each to tell the judge what has happened during your relationship. The judge will then decide that there is no danger and will dismiss the protective order, or he will find there is danger of future violence and he will extend the protective order for up to a year. If only one party attends the hearing, the judge usually rules in their favor, so be sure to attend the hearing or you can count on it being dismissed.
The basics of the Protective Order are that the adverse party cannot have any contact with you at all. This includes coming within 100 yards of you, calling on the phone, sending letters, text messages and emails, having somebody else contact you for them, or going to places that you frequent such as your home, work, church, school or parents' and family's homes.
SERVICE OF PROTECTIVE ORDER
After the Temporary Protective Order(TPO) is issued it must be served on the adverse party before it can be enforced. If you know where your stalker is living or working, you should put that information on the application. If your stalker is at a certain place on a regular schedule, such as taking a class or playing in a league, you should put that on the application.
My police Department has an office who's job is to serve TPO's, that's all they do, and they go to the places you put on the application. When you're applying for your TPO ask the clerk if your police department has an office that serves TPO's. If they don't, you may have to hire a process server or have someone you know serve it. Ask at the courthouse and they will explain the process. Ask questions and don't be shy, the workers are usually very helpful and your not asking for anything unusual, our court issues thousands of TPO's each year and yours probably does too.
If you don't know where the adverse party lives, or if your TPO server can't find him, don't think that's the end of it. Federal law requires that Protective Orders against Domestic Violence be entered in the national computer system that all police use when they are checking a person for warrants. This means that the next time the adverse party is contacted by the police and they run him for warrants, the TPO is going to appear on their computer. Federal law requires that any police officer who discovers the existence of an unserved TPO must serve it and notify the court that it was served. Even if your stalker has left the state, if he gets stopped by the police in another state and they find he has a TPO, they will serve it.
If your TPO has not been served, but he comes to where you are, call the police. If he means to harm you then you'll be glad you did. If his intentions are peaceful, then when the police get there they can at least serve the TPO.
ENFORCEMENT OF VIOLATIONS
Once your TPO has been served, he is going to violate it. Just expect it. If he understood how to behave properly you never would have had to get the Protective Order in the first place. If you expect him to violate the TPO then you will mentally prepare yourself for it. If he doesn't violate, then you still didn't lose anything by being ready.
If your stalker approaches you after being served with a TPO, call 911 immediately. Don't wait to see what kind of mood they are in. If he is still there when the police arrive, he will be arrested. Our State, and most other States, have a zero-tollerance policy where TPO's are concerned. Police are required by law to enforce protective orders.
If the adverse party is gone by the time the police arrive, then think about what the police need so they can go find him and arrest him: EVIDENCE. Our state law requires that if an officer has evidence that a violation occurred within the past 24 hours, that he must make an effort to locate and arrest the adverse party.
If the suspect is gone, ask the officer to write a report. If he refers you to the police station to make a report, then make sure you go and fill out a report. If there are people who witnessed the violation, be sure the officer gets a written statement from them. If you didn't call the police when the violation occurred but are now going to go to the station and make a report, be sure and take the witness names, addresses and phone numbers and include them in the report. If the witness is willing to accompany you to the station then they can fill out a statement.
When the report gets to a detective he is going to be looking for what evidence is listed in the report. The evidence we look for in a protective order violation is:
1. Witness statements. Does the witness know the suspect and can name him? If the witness doesn't know the suspect, could they pick him out of a photo line-up? If the witness only heard the violation, do they know him from past contact and can recognize his voice? If all they can say is that they answered the phone and a male voice asked to talk to you, then that doesn't prove it was him unless they know his voice.
2. Video surveillance. Think about where you were when the violation occurred. A large percentage of businesses have video surveillance that may show the incident. They probably wont give you a copy of their surveillance video, but if you ask if they had a camera pointed in that direction you can tell your officer or detective and most businesses gladly give their video to the police. If necessary, we could get a subpoena from the court ordering them to deliver the video.
3. Photographs. This is not as tough as you may think. Most people today carry a cell phone and most cell phones have cameras built in. If yours doesn't have a camera, it's time to upgrade your phone. When you take a photo with a cell phone you just hold it in front of you and take the photo. If the suspect asks what you're doing, tell him you were checking a text message. That's right, I told you to tell a lie! It's not like an actual camera which he will surely recognize when you hold it up to your eye and it flashes. Practice with your cell phone camera so that you can easily take it out and take a photo without trying to figure it out under pressure. Keep it in the mode where it doesn't flash. You can send the picture to your email address and print it off your computer and there you go, you have evidence.
4. Voicemail. If the suspect calls you, don't answer the phone, let it go to voicemail. If he leaves a message in his voice then you have evidence of a violation. Don't erase it. Make a police report and contact your detective so he can record the voicemail. Voicemails are among the most common form of evidence because your stalker wants you to hear what he has to say. If the call is from a private or blocked number don't answer it. It it was the suspect he may leave a message. If it was a friend you can call them back.
Most people today carry a cell phone. It is an amazing evidence collecting tool that you have with you at all times. Take a few minutes and read the owners manual and you will probably find that you can make an audio recording with it, take a picture, or even shoot a short video. Have some fun with it and record or video your friends and family, take several pictures. Once you know how to do it, erase enough so that you will have memory space available. Next time you have contact with your stalker, start recording immediately and don't stop until you are safely away. You will find it is pretty easy with a little practice. Keep it in the "no flash" mode so you don't reveal it to the suspect. If your cell phone doesn't have these functions, it's time to upgrade.
NOT EVIDENCE
In today's age, we are able to contact each other electronically through text messaging and email. We can also see who has called us by checking the caller I.D. on our phone. These things, BY THEMSELVES, may not be sufficient evidence to charge someone with a protective order violation.
The reason is that we can prove what phone the call came from and what computer sent the email, but that doesn't prove that your stalker is the one who sent it. If the only evidence we have is an electronic signature such as text messages, caller ID or email, we need something more. A witness who saw him send the message would be best. If you have some other evidence which helps to authenticate the message, such as a voicemail in his voice where he says something very similar to what is in the text, then that helps show he was the one who sent it. For example, a lady brought me voicemails where he said he would cut her head off and bury it in the desert. She had text messages from his phone number which said the same thing. When I combine his voice saying that, with the text message saying the same thing, and both coming from the same phone number, then I can present the text message as evidence.
So, if all you have is texts and emails, your detective may say it's not enough, but don't delete them, more evidence may later come up that would turn them into stronger evidence.
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