455.538. Law enforcement agencies response to violation of order — arrest for violation, penalties — custody to be returned to rightful party, when.
This law tells police what to do if someone breaks a child protection order.
If someone breaks a protection order for a child, police can arrest them and return custody to the right person.
1. Police can arrest someone who violates a child protection order, even if they didn’t see the violation happen.
2. If someone refuses to give a child back to the rightful guardian listed in the protection order, police must arrest that person and return the child to the guardian.
3. The person arrested will get the same legal protections as anyone else in police custody.
4.
(1) Breaking a child protection order is a class A misdemeanor. If the person has broken one before in the last five years, it becomes a class E felony. The judge, not the jury, decides the sentence if there was a previous violation.
(2) A person is considered to know about the order if police show it to them during a call for help.
5. If someone breaks a protection order, they can still be charged with other crimes that happened during the same incident.
Contact us online or call (314) 900-HELP to talk with a Missouri order of protection defense lawyer.
