| (a) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified protective order under Texas Family Code, Chapter 71, including a dismissal of such order, shall send a copy of the order to the department at the following address: CRS/TCIC Control Room-Protective Orders, Texas Department of Public Safety, P.O. Box 4225, Austin, Texas 78765-4225. (b) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified protective order under Texas Family Code, Chapter 71, including a dismissal of such order, shall send a copy of the order and related information to: the chief of police of the city where the member of the family or household protected by the order resides, if the person resides in a city with a police department, or to the sheriff of the county where the person resides, if the person does not reside in a city with a police department. (c) Information related to the protective order that is not contained in the protective order but is required or optional for entry into the Protective Order File may be sent from the court to the appropriate chief or sheriff on a form supplied by the department or a form supplied by the clerk. Such information must be conveyed to the chief or sheriff at the time of issuance. (d) The protective order and related information shall be sent in a manner which will allow the data to be entered into the Protective Order File by the chief or sheriff immediately thereafter. (e) If the chief or sheriff does not have a telecommunications terminal on the Texas Law Enforcement telecommunications System within their agency, the chief or sheriff shall enter into a written agreement with another law enforcement or criminal justice agency that does have such terminal, for the entry and updating of protective orders in the manner described under these sections. (f) Nothing in these rules prohibits the transmission of the protective order and related information from the clerk or from an automated court system to the appropriate chief or sheriff in an electronic or magnetic manner; however, the appropriate entry, modification, and removal of the record from the Protective Order File, as well as the related file maintenance functions required by the department, remain the responsibility of the chief or sheriff. (g) Nothing in these sections prevents appropriate agencies from entering into written agreements that consolidate or expedite the entry and updating of protective orders in the Protective Order File, if those agreements are approved in advance by the department. (h) The chief or sheriff who enters the order shall retain a copy of the order in a manner accessible 24 hours a day for hit confirmation purposes. |
