(1) A person commits the crime of violation of a protection order if, after the person has been personally served with a protection order that identifies the person as a restrained person or otherwise has acquired from the court or law enforcement personnel actual knowledge of the contents of a protection order that identifies the person as a restrained person, the person:
(a) Contacts, harasses, injures, intimidates, molests, threatens, or touches
the protected person or protected property, including an animal, identified in the
protection order or enters or remains on premises or comes within a specified
distance of the protected person, protected property, including an animal, or
premises or violates any other provision of the protection order to protect the
protected person from imminent danger to life or health, and such conduct is
prohibited by the protection order;
(b) Except as permitted pursuant to section 18-13-126 (1)(b), hires, employs,
or otherwise contracts with another person to locate or assist in the location of the
protected person; or
(c) Violates a civil protection order issued pursuant to section 13-14-105.5 or
a mandatory protection order issued pursuant to section 18-1-1001 (9) by:
(I) Possessing or attempting to purchase or receive a firearm or ammunition
while the protection order is in effect; or
(II) Failing to timely file a signed affidavit or written statement with the court
as described in section 13-14-105.5 (9), 18-1-1001 (9)(i), or 18-6-801 (8)(i).
(1.5) As used in this section:
(a) Protected person means the person or persons identified in the
protection order as the person or persons for whose benefit the protection order
was issued. Protected person does not include the defendant.
(a.5) (I) Protection order means any order that prohibits the restrained
person from contacting, harassing, injuring, intimidating, molesting, threatening, or
touching any protected person or protected animal, or from entering or remaining
on premises, or from coming within a specified distance of a protected person or
protected animal or premises or any other provision to protect the protected person
or protected animal from imminent danger to life or health, that is issued by a court
of this state or a municipal court, and that is issued pursuant to:
(A) Article 14 of title 13, section 18-1-1001, section 19-2.5-607, section 19-4-111, or rule 365 of the Colorado rules of county court civil procedure;
(B) Sections 14-4-101 to 14-4-105, C.R.S., section 14-10-107, C.R.S., section 14-10-108, C.R.S., or section 19-3-316, C.R.S., as those sections existed prior to July 1,
2004;
(C) An order issued as part of the proceedings concerning a criminal
municipal ordinance violation; or
(D) Any other order of a court that prohibits a person from contacting,
harassing, injuring, intimidating, molesting, threatening, or touching any person, or
from entering or remaining on premises, or from coming within a specified distance
of a protected person or premises.
(II) For purposes of this section only, protection order includes any order
that amends, modifies, supplements, or supersedes the initial protection order.
Protection order also includes any restraining order entered prior to July 1, 2003,
and any foreign protection order as defined in section 13-14-110, C.R.S.
(b) Registry means the computerized information system created in section
18-6-803.7 or the national crime information center created pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
sec. 534.
(c) Restrained person means the person identified in the order as the
person prohibited from doing the specified act or acts.
(d) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2003, p. 1003, § 6, effective July 1, 2003.)
(2) (a) Violation of a protection order is a class 2 misdemeanor; except that, if
the restrained person has previously been convicted of violating this section or a
former version of this section or an analogous municipal ordinance, or if the
protection order is issued pursuant to section 18-1-1001, or the basis for issuing the
protection order included an allegation of stalking or the parties were in an intimate
relationship, the violation is a class 1 misdemeanor.
(a.5) Repealed.
(b) (Deleted by amendment, L. 95, p. 567, § 3, effective July 1, 1995.)
(c) Nothing in this section shall preclude the ability of a municipality to enact
concurrent ordinances. Any sentence imposed for a violation of this section shall
run consecutively and not concurrently with any sentence imposed for any crime
which gave rise to the issuing of the protection order.
(3) (a) Whenever a protection order is issued, the protected person shall be
provided with a copy of such order. A peace officer shall use every reasonable
means to enforce a protection order.
(b) A peace officer shall arrest, or, if an arrest would be impractical under
the circumstances, seek a warrant for the arrest of a restrained person when the
peace officer has information amounting to probable cause that:
(I) The restrained person has violated or attempted to violate any provision of
a protection order; and
(II) The restrained person has been properly served with a copy of the
protection order or the restrained person has received actual notice of the
existence and substance of such order.
(c) In making the probable cause determination described in paragraph (b) of
this subsection (3), a peace officer shall assume that the information received from
the registry is accurate. A peace officer shall enforce a valid protection order
whether or not there is a record of the protection order in the registry.
(d) The arrest and detention of a restrained person is governed by applicable
constitutional and applicable state rules of criminal procedure. The arrested person
shall be removed from the scene of the arrest and shall be taken to the peace
officer’s station for booking, whereupon the arrested person may be held or
released in accordance with the adopted bonding schedules for the jurisdiction in
which the arrest is made, or the arrested person may be taken to the jail in the
county where the protection order was issued. The law enforcement agency or any
other locally designated agency shall make all reasonable efforts to contact the
protected party upon the arrest of the restrained person. The prosecuting attorney
shall present any available arrest affidavits and the criminal history of the
restrained person to the court at the time of the first appearance of the restrained
person before the court.
(e) The arresting agency arresting the restrained person shall forward to the
issuing court a copy of such agency’s report, a list of witnesses to the violation, and,
if applicable, a list of any charges filed or requested against the restrained person.
The agency shall give a copy of the agency’s report, witness list, and charging list
to the protected party. The agency shall delete the address and telephone number
of a witness from the list sent to the court upon request of such witness, and such
address and telephone number shall not thereafter be made available to any
person, except law enforcement officials and the prosecuting agency, without
order of the court.
(4) If a restrained person is on bond in connection with a violation or
attempted violation of a protection order in this or any other state and is
subsequently arrested for violating or attempting to violate a protection order, the
arresting agency shall notify the prosecuting attorney who shall file a motion with
the court which issued the prior bond for the revocation of the bond and for the
issuance of a warrant for the arrest of the restrained person if such court is
satisfied that probable cause exists to believe that a violation of the protection
order issued by the court has occurred.
(5) A peace officer arresting a person for violating a protection order or
otherwise enforcing a protection order shall not be held criminally or civilly liable
for such arrest or enforcement unless the peace officer acts in bad faith and with
malice or does not act in compliance with rules adopted by the Colorado supreme
court.
(6) (a) A peace officer is authorized to use every reasonable means to protect
the alleged victim or the alleged victim’s children to prevent further violence. Such
peace officer may transport, or obtain transportation for, the alleged victim to
shelter. Upon the request of the protected person, the peace officer may also
transport the minor child of the protected person, who is not an emancipated minor,
to the same shelter if such shelter is willing to accept the child, whether or not
there is a custody order or an order allocating parental responsibilities with respect
to such child or an order for the care and control of the child and whether or not the
other parent objects. A peace officer who transports a minor child over the
objection of the other parent shall not be held liable for any damages that may
result from interference with the custody, parental responsibilities, care, and
control of or access to a minor child in complying with this subsection (6).
(b) For purposes of this subsection (6), shelter means a battered women’s
shelter, a friend’s or family member’s home, or such other safe haven as may be
designated by the protected person and which is within a reasonable distance from
the location at which the peace officer found the victim.
(7) The protection order shall contain in capital letters and bold print a notice
informing the protected person that such protected person may either initiate
contempt proceedings against the restrained person if the order is issued in a civil
action or request the prosecuting attorney to initiate contempt proceedings if the
order is issued in a criminal action.
(8) A protection order issued in the state of Colorado shall contain a
statement that:
(a) The order or injunction shall be accorded full faith and credit and be
enforced in every civil or criminal court of the United States, another state, an
Indian tribe, or a United States territory pursuant to 18 U.S.C. sec. 2265;
(b) The issuing court had jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter; and
(c) The defendant was given reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard.
(9) A criminal action charged pursuant to this section may be tried either in
the county where the offense is committed or in the county in which the court that
issued the protection order is located, if such court is within this state.
(2) Section 47 of chapter 68 (HB 22-1229), Session Laws of Colorado 2022,
provides that the act repealing subsection (2)(a.5) is effective March 1, 2022, but
the governor did not approve the act until April 7, 2022.
L. 91: Entire section added, p. 418, § 1, effective May 31. L. 92: Entire section amended, p. 294, § 4, effective April 23; (1) and (2) amended, p. 404, § 18, effective June 3; entire section amended, p. 177, § 3, effective July 1. L. 94: (2) and (3) amended and (6) added, p. 2027, § 4, effective July 1; entire section amended, p. 2010, § 7, effective January 1, 1995. L. 95: (1), (2), and (3)(d) amended, p. 567, § 3, effective July 1. L. 96: (3)(d) amended, p. 736, § 6, effective July 1; (1.5)(d) amended, p. 1692, § 26, effective January 1, 1997. L. 98: (1.5)(b), (1.5)(d), and (3)(c) amended and (8) added, p. 1232, § 3, effective July 1; (6)(a) amended, p. 1404, § 58, effective February 1, 1999. L. 99: (1.5)(d) amended, p. 502, § 11, effective July 1. L. 2000: (1) and (1.5)(d) amended, p. 1011, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2003: Entire section amended, p. 1003, § 6, effective July 1. L. 2004: (1.5)(a.5) amended, p. 555, § 12, effective July 1; (2)(a.5) added, p. 636, § 10, effective August 4. L. 2005: (3)(d) amended and (9) added, p. 427, § 6, effective April 29. L. 2006: (1) amended, p. 1057, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2007: (1)(a) and (1.5)(a.5)(I) amended, p. 726, § 8, effective July 1. L. 2008: IP(1) amended, p. 1718, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2013: (1) amended, (SB 13-197), ch. 366, p. 2130 § 2, effective June 5; (1.5)(a.5)(II) amended, (HB 13-1259), ch. 218, p. 1016, § 19, effective July 1. L. 2014: (1)(c) amended, (HB 14-1363), ch. 302, p. 1264, § 13, effective May 31. L. 2021: IP(1)(c) and (1)(c)(II) amended, (HB 21-1255), ch. 293, p. 1753, § 4, effective June 22; (1.5)(a.5)(I)(A) amended, (SB 21-059), ch. 136, p. 722, § 49, effective October 1; (1.5)(a) and (2)(a) amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3192, § 262, effective March 1, 2022. L. 2022: (2)(a.5) repealed, (HB 22-1229), ch. 68, p. 345, § 26, effective March 1; (1)(c)(II) amended (SB 22-212), ch. 421, p. 2969, § 29, effective August 10.
(1) Amendments to this section in House Bill 92-1075 and House Bill 92-1078 were harmonized. Amendments to this section in House Bill 94-1090 and House Bill 94-1253 were harmonized.
For the legislative declaration in the 2013 act amending subsection (1), see section 1 of chapter 366, Session Laws of Colorado 2013.
