Posted on 07/11/2005 6:30:34 PM PDT by claudiustg
A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling won't change how local officers enforce restraining orders, but it concerns at least one judge.
Based on a Colorado case, the June 27 ruling says that police can't be sued for failing to enforce a restraining order. In the Colorado case, a woman made repeated phone calls and paid a visit to police within a few hours, asking them to find her estranged husband against whom she had a restraining order. She thought he had taken their three daughters. The man eventually turned up at the police department with a shotgun he had just purchased. Police shot and killed him, and the bodies of his murdered daughters were found inside his truck.
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the woman was not entitled to have officers enforce the order.
The ruling is "pretty darn dangerous," said Flathead County Justice of the Peace David Ortley.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyinterlake.com ...
Those restraining orders are two edged swords.
In instances like this, more probably should have been done to protect those in danger. On the other hand, restraining orders are low hanging fruit on the tree of criminal justice, when the wife wants the home and the guy out of it.
Yes, I agree.
Enforcing restraint orders doesn't bring money into city treasure chests. In fact, guarding citizens under death threats would cost money.
It's better that some serfs should die so the tax collectors can be used to write speeding tickets and issue summons for not trimming bushes.
On the other hand, elite functionaries should be provided with 24/7 police protection at taxpayer expense.
What the Supreme Court decided on is a completely random enforcement of these restraining orders. So, our sheriff's department has said they will enforce them, but will the police department? Maybe the officers will flip a coin when the call comes in. Who knows?
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