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Where do they issue protective orders without more than the word of the accused?
Temporary POs, yes. But actual POs are pretty hard to get. Mine was denied even though my abuser plead guilty to domestic violence because the courts believed he should have the parental right to abuse his children without supervision, too.
My wife wasn’t given a protection order when a threat was made on her life by her ex. Cop said it was free speech.
The current precedent that is being used to apply the law makes no distinction between "protective order" and "restraining order". It also makes no distinction between "protective order" and "temporary protective order" nor does it recognize a distinction between "restraining order" and "temporary restraining order". So considering that, and because the naming convention varies from state to state, we're forced to consider all those terms equal under the current interpretation of law and current court precedence.
You've already admitted that Temporary POs are easy. How easy? In most states, the only requirement is a signed affidavit from an accuser claiming they feel threatened. That's it.
I'm not going to go look it up state by state to give you the requirements, but I did look up California's (since they have such a huge population and since many other states base their own laws on the precedence that California sets). In California, an EPO (emergency protective order) can be granted solely from "a person's allegation of a recent incident of abuse or threat of abuse". See California Family Code, Chapter 2, Section 6250 Paragraph (A) here: https://studentaffairs.fresnostate.edu/survivoradvocate/documents/CA%20Victim%20Protection%20Statutes.pdf
That's it. Also in California (and in many other states), EPOs are temporary, but can be repeatedly extended until some upcoming court date can decide on a permanent resolution (and this can take weeks to months). Also in California (and in many other states), a domestic EPO is sufficient to deny someone access to firearms, revoke their concealed handgun license, etc. Here's the quote from the State of California Emergency Protective Order Bench Guide for judges:
And that bit about "must be surrendered"...comes with some pretty big penalties also. When surrendered, the state takes possession and assigns fees to the subject of the order for hanging onto them...and then if/when the protective order is ultimately lifted or defeated in court, that poor bastard still needs to hire a lawyer to navigate the legal system and all the forms and filings to get them back. One fraudulent protection order ends up costing the subject tens of thousands of dollars.
...And this is the precedent that is currently being challenged.
I had my own brother crashing on my couch for 4 months for this very issue (his ex had filed a fraudulent one against him without needing any more evidence than an allegation....and 3 months into it (after a dozen extensions), she threatened to file one against ME for refusing to let her into my house where he was staying. Obviously, some protection orders are valid and necessary, but the system is currently easily abused by anyone who wants to make their ex's life miserable and there are ZERO repercussions for filing a fraudulent protection order. I think it's fair to reconsider how many rights we are willing to violate against an innocent person before there is due process in a court proceeding.