An action lies for contempt of court should an order pursuant to Chapter 50B be violated. When there has not been a hearing on enforcement, the statute allows law enforcement personnel to arrest and confine an individual if the officer has probable cause to believe “that the person has violated a court order excluding the person form the residence or household occupied by a victim of domestic violence” or that the person has violated an order “directing the person to refrain from harassing or interfering with the victim.” Although the officer may verify the order’s existence through “communication with appropriate authorities,” it is better and far easier for you to have your own copy of the order to show the officer.
Even with this in hand, however, the officer may be unwilling to use the power vested in him by the order and may instead only intervene when the violation of the order is witnessed by him, reported by an uninvolved eyewitness, or when the effect of the violation is readily apparent, through injury to person or property. A person who knowingly violates a valid protective order shall also be guilty of a misdemeanor.
