2021 Monica’s Law and the OCA Protective Order Registry

2021 County and District Clerks’ Association

of Texas Winter Education Conference

Feb. 2-4 Virtual Event

Platform

Preserving Our Past, Embracing Our Future

Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 11 a.m.-noon

Monica’s Law and the OCA Protective Order Registry

By the end of this session, participants will be able to: • List the different types of protective orders required to be entered into the Protective Order Registry • Discuss the various levels of user access to the Registry• Describe how the Office of Court Administration’s newly-created Protective Order Registry can assist

criminal justice personnel, regardless of role, to prevent

the escalation of violence; conduct more thoroughinvestigations; pursue successful prosecutions; providemore effective safety planning for survivors and their families; and hold more offenders accountable for their crimes.

Ms. Kimberly A.F. Piechowiak, Domestic Violence

Resource Attorney, Office of Court Administration

Piechowiak is the domestic violence training attorney for the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA). She received her B.A. in criminal justice in 1989 from UT-San Antonio and her J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1992. Before working for

the OCA, she prosecuted domestic violence cases for 20

years, first with the Bexar County district attorney and then with the San Antonio city attorney’s office. With the city, Piechowiak implemented and supervised the family violence prosecution program at San Antonio Municipal Court. She is a state law enforcement

commission certified police instructor, and she has been

training law enforcement officers, attorneys and judges since 1997 on the issue of domestic violence for many local, state and national agencies. These include the San Antonio Police Department Training Academy, the National District Attorneys Association, the Texas

Center for the Judiciary, the Texas Justice Court

Training Center, the Texas Council on Family Violence and the Conference on Crimes Against Women.

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Kimberly A. F. Piechowiak

Domestic Violence Training Attorney

Office of Court Administration

Protective Order Registry and Monica’s Law

Honoring Texas Victims 2019- 185 Texans150 Women killed by male partners

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https://tcfv.org/honoring-texas-victims/

2019 - 31 Men and 4 LGBTQ partners

https://tcfv.org/honoring-texas-victims/

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2020: COVID 19 AND DV, AKA THE SHADOW PANDEMIC

• Example: Bexar County• 2018 – 17 • 2019 – 21• 2020 (Jan thru Aug) - 32

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Monica DemingOdessa, TX2015

Monica’s LawProtective Order Registry: TGC §§ 72.151 -72.158

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Implementation Schedule• September 1, 2020: Access and training for select pilot clerks/courts

with onboarding of other clerks/courts on an ad hoc basis.

• October 15, 2020: Mandatory entry of all applications and protective orders begins.

• Fall/Winter 2020/2021:

• Enable feature that permits public access to final orders that protected parties have expressly made public.

• Public Access Consent form forwarded to OCA.

• OCA affirmatively grants public access.

• Grant access and provide training on system use to Restricted Users (law enforcement/prosecutors).

• Conduct training and disseminate awareness information to advocacy groups.

• Update information in Supreme Court Protective Order Kit.

"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking.'" -George W. Bush

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Texas’ Decentralized Court System

• 254 Counties• 2746 Trial Courts with 3115 Judges• Protective Orders issued in FY 2019 – 26,684

• JP & Muni (MOEPs) - 17,126• District & Statutory County - 9,400• Constitutional County – 158

• MOEP- Magistrates Order of Emergency Protection• PO- Protective Order• TExPO- Temporary Ex Parte Order • Authorized User- a person to whom the office has given permission

and the means to submit records to or modify or remove records in the registry. In other words, court clerks and their designees.

• Restricted User- a person to whom the office has given permission to receive non-public information regarding protective order applications and orders, including imaged copies of those documents, listed in the statute as:

• an authorized user• designees of the attorney general, a district attorney, a criminal district

attorney, a county attorney, a municipal attorney, or a peace officer.

Acronyms and Definitions

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• Applications* for a protective order filed under:

• Chapter 82, FC; or• Article 17.292, CCP, arrests for a

FV offense;

• Protective orders* issued under:

• TFC Chapter 83 (TexPO);• TFC Chapter 85 (PO); or• Article 17.292, (MOEP)

*This has been expanded to include all POs and MOEPs pursuant to the CCP, such as:

• sexual assault,

• stalking,

• trafficking,

• indecent assault, and

• bias/prejudice

PROTECTIVE ORDER REGISTRY: TGC § 72.152.

Magistrate’s Orders for Emergency Protection

• CCP 17.292

• Entered by clerks in JP courts, municipal, or any other courts that handle magistration duties

• Within 24 hours

Application, TExPO, and Final PO• TFC Chapter 82 - Applications for Protective Orders• TFC Chapter 83 - Temporary Ex Parte Order• TFC Chapter 85 - Protective Order• Entered by county and district clerks, depending on type

of court that issues POs.• Within 24 hours

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Important Differences between TCIC and the Protective Order Registry

TCIC • Access:

• Law enforcement only

• Limited information due to character limits and no image of the order

• Feeds into federal databases NCIC and NICS

Protective Order Registry• Access:

• Courts• Prosecution • Law enforcement • Public (extremely limited)

• Includes actual image of order

• Protective Order Registry will NOT replace the use of TCIC

• A parallel process• Web-based

Question: Why do we care?

• PO may be “inscribed on a tangible medium or may be stored in an electronic or other medium if it is retrievable in a perceivable form.” Certified copy not required.

• Law enforcement may determine that there is probable cause to believe that a PO exists by relying on any relevant information.

18 USC § 2265; Tex. Fam. Code §§ 88.003, 88.004

Long Answer: Full Faith And Credit

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• Why ? Safety

• TCIC data entry up to 4 business days after issuance.

• PC 25.07: Violation of Certain Court Orders or Conditions of Bond in a Family Violence, Child Abuse or Neglect, Sexual Assault or Abuse, Indecent Assault, Stalking, or Trafficking Cases:• CCP 14.03(a)(3): Peace officer may arrest, without a

warrant, if probable cause to believe person violated PC 25.07, and it was not committed in the officer’s presence

• CCP 14.03(b): Peace officer shall arrest if it wascommitted in the officer’s presence.

24 hours? Yes, even over the weekend. Bottom Line:

Cannot arrest if they do

not know the order

even exists

Safety• TCIC moves expired orders to

archive, so there are extra steps required to locate them

• Violent history relevant to ALL arrest, detention, release, charging, and safety-planning decisions.

Why do expired orders stay in the registry?

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• Scan documents and save to a file on your computer BEFORE attempting data entry.

• If your judge does magistration on the weekend, but cannot get the MOEP to you before the 24-hour deadline for data entry:• Discuss whether you should add your judge as a user so that he or

she can do the data entry.• Share the info you have received on the process with your judge.• If need more assistance, contact [email protected]

• All current procedures for MOEPs, such as sending info to victims and law enforcement, stays the same.

• System is built to allow edits and corrections.

TIPS FOR CLERKS

• Courts• Sentencing decisions• MOEP and bond decisions

• Law Enforcement• PO available sooner than in TCIC• Can see entire order, not just TCIC hit• Good faith enforcement after hours

• Investigation/prosecution • Active and expired orders and applications• Orders involving prior applicants/witnesses• Contact information

• Advocates• Safety planning• History of abuse

BenefitsAs Authorized users, clerks can:• Enter applications and

orders (MOEPs)• Search the entire

registry so the judge can have relevant info.

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Head Clerks: 1. Check to see if you are already in the registry by going to

https://courtal.txcourts.gov/2. If no email is received go to:

https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/protective-order-registry/authorized-user-information-instructions/login-request/

3. Then add your staff as needed.

Getting Started:

1. To check if you already have access, please go to https://courtal.txcourts.gov/ and enter your email.

2. If you do not receive an email, please request access directly from YOUR Head Clerk. You will get access to the system only when he/she has added you as a user.

3. Why?

For deputy clerks, assistant clerks, and staff members designated by the Head Clerk of your court, you may have already been added into the system.

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Start in Chrome browser

https://courtal.txcourts.gov/

Enter your court user email address to sign in. You will receive an email at that address (similar to CBP process)

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You will receive an email…Push the Sign In button.

Then you will land here… https://courtal.txcourts.gov/MainView/Index

Click here

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Then, make sure these boxes are selected

Then click Save

Your Email

MANAGE USERS

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Entering and Editing an Application, TexPO, and Final Protective Order

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Searching as Restricted User

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Searching as Public

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• Public can search for permanent POs only, by county of issuance, Respondent’s name, and/or year of Respondent’s birth.

• Public access is NOT available for MOEPs, or images of anyapplications or orders.

Publicly accessible information:

Sec. 72.154. Public Access to PO Registry

• Issuing court;• Case number;• Respondent’s information

• full name, • county of residence, • birth year, and • race or ethnicity;

• Date issued; • Date served;• Date the order was

vacated, if applicable; and

• Date of expiration

HTTPS://TOPICS.TXCOURTS.GOV/

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Please watch the video tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39joPEFNi1k

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For More Information: https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/protective-order-registry/

FAQs: https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/protective-order-registry/authorized-user-information-instructions/faq/

On-demand webinar video:

https://txcourts.zoom.us/rec/share/bEv7OBj-X37DT4KvrsYGFgaEs8_vWie950qsuQfnGT9RYM12YUTupmdddWHyII1c.nIg1fTMyWmkUp5aj

For other questions or assistance related to the Protective Order Registry, please contact:

[email protected]

Be on the lookout for

periodic updates andmore training opportunities via email and

the OCA website!

Texas Office of Court Administration

Domestic Violence Training Attorney

(512) 936-6390

[email protected]

Thank you!!!

FAMILY VIOLENCE RESOURCES

OCA Resources: Protective Order Registry Court Users Site https://courtal.txcourts.gov/

Information for court users https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/protective-order-registry/authorized-user-information-instructions/ FAQs: https://www.txcourts.gov/judicial-data/protective-order-registry/authorized-user-information-instructions/faq/ On-demand webinar https://txcourts.zoom.us/rec/share/0A9v5OyALZ_3PC54xsAgpwP56iURzGK8-9ed_qeHC9iMEs_JKEG1oG9I2RY7I3Dx.uVhBquaAMiO11Np4?startTime=1605294188000 Protective Order Public Site https://topics.txcourts.gov/

Forms Fillable TCIC Data Entry Form https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1450049/protective-order-tcic-data-entry-form.pdf Consent to Publish form https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1449910/209118.pdf Domestic Violence Resource Program http://www.txcourts.gov/dvrp/ For Technical Support, please contact: [email protected] For Family Violence/Protective Order Legal Questions and Training Inquiries, please contact: Kimberly A. F. Piechowiak Domestic Violence Training Attorney [email protected] or (512) 936-6390

__________________________________________________________________ Other Helpful Resources: Honoring Texas Victims Report https://tcfv.org/honoring-texas-victims/ TCFV Purple Postcard Campaign https://tcfv.org/purple-postcard/ National Domestic Violence Hotline (800) 799- SAFE https://www.thehotline.org/ Alliance for HOPE International http://www.allianceforhope.com/ Gun Violence Archive https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/

BWJP’s National Domestic Violence and Firearms Resource Center https://www.preventdvgunviolence.org/ Battered Women’s Justice Project’s National Center on Protection Orders and Full Faith & Credit http://www.bwjp.org/our-work/projects/protection-orders.html Danger Assessment https://www.dangerassessment.org/

The Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention https://www.strangulationtraininginstitute.com/