Orders of Protection: Courts, Cops and Victims

The collaboration of the court system, law enforcement and advocates better enables victims to receive prompt notification when a Family Court order of protection has been served. When victims receive timely notice, they can implement their personal safety plan to better protect themselves, their children and others.

SAVIN-NY: Family Court Order of Protection Notification Project: Victim advocates and criminal justice personnel alike recognize the period of time immediately following service of an Order of Protection as a particularly crucial period for the victim. Abusers are often more violent during this period of separation. Providing timely notification that an Order of Protection has just been served can be very important information to a victim. SAVIN is an acronym for Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification. Working in partnership with the NYS Association of Chiefs of Police, the NYS Sheriffs' Institute was awarded funding through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) SAVIN program to develop a Family Court Order of Protection Notification System. That system is presently up and running throughout upstate New York.
Any Order of Protection issued by a New York State Family Court or Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) Court entered into the NYS Order of Protection Registry is eligible for this service. The Order of Protection Notification options currently available to a victim include:
Option 1- Subscription: This option requires that the victim enroll through NY-Alert (www.nyalert.gov) using a valid email address and subscribe to Orders of Protection. This will result in the victim being notified by phone, email, text, fax, or iPhone app (iAlertz) when the Order of Protection is reported as served by law enforcement.
Option 2 -- Inquiry: In those cases were the victim either does not have a valid email address, or chooses not to use it, they still have the option to perform an inquiry on the Order of Protection. An inquiry allows a victim to do an ad hoc query of the Order of Protection to determine its status at that point in time. However, an inquiry does not generate a notification to the victim if the Order of Protection is served at a later date. A victim has the ability to query as often as they feel necessary. The inquiry is still made through www.nyalert.gov or through www.nyalert.gov/op but does not require that the victim be an enrolled NY-Alert user.
Option 3 -- Case Load Tool: This option allows an advocate or other interested party, to enroll as a NY-Alert user and receive notification of service on subscribed Orders of Protection from multiple victims.
Law Enforcement plays a key role in the success of this project in three ways:
1. Advising victims of the availability of the program.
2. Timely service of the Order of Protection.
3. Timely entry of service information into the Integrated Justice Portal. This is critical in that it triggers the notification to the victim within minutes of entry.
If you require any additional information, please contact:
Daniel M. Foro, Senior Advisor - New York State Sheriffs' Association Institute, Inc. - [email protected] or visit our website at www.savin-ny.org