This story today in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel talks about the difficulties of enforcing protective orders. Some quotes:
Christine Stutz's fear has turned to rage, and for good reason. She filed a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, but it didn't do much good. In the past 18 months, Stutz has filed 25 police reports against Joshua Kennell for violating the order. Instead of protection, Kennell allegedly has threatened Stutz, slashed tires on her vehicle, stolen numerous child safety seats meant to protect his own son and repeatedly broken into Stutz's home. * * *Posted by Marcia Oddi at June 9, 2004 12:16 PMMore Allen County residents have been filing the orders over the past decade. The number of protective order cases filed in civil court has risen from 1,032 in 1993 to 2,114 in 2003. Through Monday, there have been 1,009 cases filed this year. The orders can be filed in cases involving family violence, sexual assault or stalking.
Those numbers do not include the number of protective orders - which are good for two years - that have been added to felony or misdemeanor cases in Allen County Superior Court in addition to criminal charges. * * *
But violating the order can be hard to prove. A protective order is a court document, which doesn't do much good when it is violated at all times of day and police are not waiting for the suspect.
"It's only a piece of paper," Davis said. "I tell the women that it's a tool, but I don't want them to think it's a shield. Women are likely to be the victims of a homicide after they have left a relationship. I tell them to be hyper-vigilant."