being stalked and need some info

[Clint45]

IIRC, you need to go before a judge to petition for a restraining order, and you need to submit some sort of proof aside from testimony, such as a police report. There's also the option of petitioning for an order of protection, which is what is generally granted to victims of DV or stalking, which prohibits the individual from contacting the person in any way. Again, you will need a police report. And they generally expire after a certain time and need to be renewed. The laws vary in every state and I'm not certain what I just posted is correct for the state of Colorado.

[centrarchidae]

IIRC, you need to go before a judge to petition for a restraining order, and you need to submit some sort of proof aside from testimony, such as a police report. There's also the option of petitioning for an order of protection, which is what is generally granted to victims of DV or stalking, which prohibits the individual from contacting the person in any way. Again, you will need a police report. And they generally expire after a certain time and need to be renewed. The laws vary in every state and I'm not certain what I just posted is correct for the state of Colorado.

They're ALL protection orders. For some reason, the legislature felt the need to rename the order from "restraining order" to "protection order" a few years ago, without changing much of anything else about them.

The way they work in Colorado (and most if not all of the rest of the US):

You (the "petitioner") petition the county court to issue a PO.

The court issues a Temporary PO and sets a hearing date. The order is valid and in force, upon being served until the hearing date.

The hearing is for you and the restrained party (the "respondent") to go in front of the judge and argue about whether the order should be made permanent. If the judge says "yes," then it becomes permanent (but can be challenged by the respondent every few years). If the judge says "no," then the order expires and ceases to be valid.

The petitioner can ask for a variety of terms to be included: no contact at all, no weapons, no alcohol, must stay 100' away, whatever. But the terms you ask for need to have some reasonable relationship to whatever threat you perceived that made you petition for the order.

The best way to go forward would be to contact the court clerk for the county court where you live. They can't give legal advice but should have some self-help information that you can use.

[spqrzilla]

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Forms/...orm_Type_ID=24