TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Restraining orders in the state of Florida are going into effect quicker now thanks to a new law that allows courts to email an injunction to a sheriff’s office in any county instead of mail or fax.
The legislation was brought forth by State Senator Janet Cruz and went into effect in October.
“These injunctions for protections were actually being dropped in the U.S. mail," Cruz said during a press conference on Monday. "So four or five days there, four or five days for processing, we're talking about 10 days before a sheriff can do something about someone who shows up and threatens a woman or a man."
An injunction only goes into effect once the subject has been served the protection papers. That can be extremely difficult to do cross-county. The person seeking the protection, often a victim of domestic violence, doesn’t know if or when it is served.
Now, they can receive a text message telling them once it's in place.
“If you have a victim in Hillsborough County and the defendant is in another county, that's where we really struggled with, 'How do we get these injunctions across county lines?' Because the U.S. mail just by nature of COVID was taking that much longer,” Hillsborough County Clerk of Court Cindy Stuart said in the press conference.
According to the Florida Department Of Law Enforcement, reported domestic violence offenses in the state have been trending upward since 2018.
Judge Doneene Loar is one of two judges assigned to the 6th Circuit Community Violence Division, now in its second year.
"We do five types of injunctions here. Repeat violence, sexual violence, dating violence, stalking and the domestic violence with and without kids," Loar told ABC Action News.
Loar added that they’ve seen a significant increase in requests for restraining orders since the pandemic began.
"There's been a lot of people that have been in different financial situations, stressed about the economic cost, as well as being in home a lot more and working from home. I think it has caused an uptick," he said.
More requests for injunctions coupled with slower mail has pushed orders out weeks.
“That gap is too large. And it's too large, really, for both sides,” Hillsborough County Public Defender Julianne Holt said.
Holt has been in the position for two decades and explained that there were gaps that could easily be fixed by technology. She said the sooner an order is served, the sooner her typical clients know that a certain behavior needs to stop by law.
“For instance, you don't realize that you're not supposed to be having contact with someone, and, in fact, you do," she said. "Some altercation occurs, and someone ends up being charged with a misdemeanor battery or domestic violence charge."
It’s a small change modernizing the current injunction law that’s already having an impact on the system.
“Now it is a much quicker turnaround,” Loar said. “We see that we're getting more service by the first court date, which is very helpful for us to move forward in the final hearing.”
We sat in on a hearing via Zoom with Judge Loar after our interview. It was an outcome we don’t often report in the news -- the end of an injunction order after a father completed a parenting course and anger management classes.
“I’m glad to hear that you guys are working together for the best interest of your child,” Loar told the parents.
Courts also now allow people to electronically file for an injunction instead of filling out stacks of paperwork. If you don't have internet access, many courts will set you up with a laptop, or you can visit a public library.
