Rare Use of Court Order Worries Officials

Disturbed by the infrequent use of a new law designed to protect battered women, Superior Court officials have called a meeting with police agencies around the county to encourage them to apply for more restraining orders at night and on weekends.

The state law took effect July 1, enabling officers to get restraining orders over the telephone, during hours when courts are closed, to separate couples troubled by violence. But in the next three months, police and sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles County asked for only 63 of the orders, about the number that court officials had thought would be issued in a single evening.

Superior Courts around the county issue about 1,000 restraining orders a month in domestic violence cases during regular business hours, and court officials had predicted that a special hot line would be used to issue as many as 70 “stay-away” orders a night, when many of the problems arise. Instead, it has issued less than one order a day.

“The court has done an orientation and reached out to all the police departments,” said Bonnie Carter, coordinator of the county’s program. “They are just not using it.”

Meeting Called

A meeting has been called for Nov. 15 with representatives of police departments in the county “to see why this isn’t being more widely used,” Carter said.

The orders give additional clout to police, who in the past might ask abusive spouses to leave their homes, but had no legal recourse against them if they returned. The telephone orders are valid until 5 p.m. of the next court day, when they can be renewed by parties who want to remain under the court’s protection.

“I’m not sure if it is because it’s new legislation,” Carter said of the slow response. “Perhaps police officers are concerned that it will take a while to get the orders and they will be hung up so they can’t go on to other business.”

Gail Pincus, a member of the advisory committee overseeing implementation of the new law, said she is impatient to see more orders issued. “I think we have a good tool out there,” Pincus said. “Police can pick up a person before there is violence . . . not just when they commit an assault.”

As of Sept. 30, Los Angeles police had received 32 orders on behalf of domestic violence victims, while Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies received 11 orders. Long Beach and Burbank police received three orders each, but 33 law enforcement agencies around the county had not asked for a single order.

The county originally hired a special telephone operator and assigned Carter to coordinate the restraining order program. Because of the dearth of calls, however, the operator has been eliminated and Carter works only part time on the restraining order project.

Night and weekend demands for restraining orders are now filtered through the county’s regular operators to family court mediators, who receive $276 per 12-hour shift.

Approximately $37,000 has been spent on the program so far, but it has been worth the cost “if we can save one life,” said Superior Court Judge Frances Rothschild, who presides over the court’s family law branches.

Other urban areas around California also have used the restraining order law infrequently, according to figures compiled by the state Administrative Office of the Court. San Francisco, for example, issued only four of the orders during July and August.

In contrast, mostly rural San Joaquin County issued 92 of the off-hours orders in July and August. And the Santa Maria branch of the Santa Barbara Superior Court issued 61 in the same two months.

Officials in San Joaquin County said police and sheriff’s deputies there inform all domestic violence victims that they can apply for restraining orders, and counselors from the county’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program follow the officers to most homes to explain victims’ rights. In every case where someone is arrested for domestic abuse, he is served with a court order that prohibits him from returning to the scene of the violence, said Diane Batres, director of the victim-witness program.

Police officials in Los Angeles County said they do not know why their officers have requested so few restraining orders.

“We have to give it a little while to get started,” said Bob Medkeff, the officer in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department’s crisis intervention unit. “The officers like it. It’s another tool we can use to keep a suspect away from another individual.”

Expectations of 50 to 70 orders a night may have been unrealistic, Medkeff said.

To Show Videotape

By the end of the year, the department hopes to show a videotape at police roll calls to demonstrate to each of the department’s 7,400 officers how the orders are supposed to work, he said.

All Sheriff’s Department station commanders have been told to brief officers on how to use the orders, Deputy Greg Hinkle said.

“I personally think there were cases where these could have been used but maybe weren’t for one reason or another,” Hinkle said.

Once deputies realize that it takes only about 10 minutes to get an order over the phone, they will take more advantage of the program, he said.