The protection action plan

It is the plan Act 54 wants a person with a protection order to build for themselves, starting from the guide the court must hand them. The Act does not impose it as a duty on the victim: it describes the guide’s content and says it will serve as the basis for drawing up the plan. What is concrete is the list, and it is long: eight blocks with more than fifty specific recommendations.

Article 2.1-C speaks of the guide courts must hand “to victims in whose favour a Protection Order has been issued”. Worth knowing too that Article 2.1-B requires the court, when it finds cause for arrest for an offence under this Act and the accused is a repeat offender, to issue without further proceedings a protection order in the victim’s favour for no less than a year; and where it is a first offence, for no less than six months. The victim’s consent is not required for that issuance, but the court must first explain to them the reason for the order and its scope.

• That a protection order has been issued in your favour: Article 2.1-C describes the guide courts must hand to those victims.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The escape plan

   The first block of Article 2.1-C is suggestions for setting up an escape plan: identifying the place you can go to immediately in an emergency; teaching your children how to get to safety and contact the police; the desirability of rehearsing the escape plan; including pets in the emergency plan, if you have them; and identifying the resources that can assist you, which the Act lists: victim shelters, state police, municipal police, medical professionals, psychologists, social workers, lawyers and women’s support organisations.

2. 2

   Step 2: The emergency bag and what goes in it

   The Act recommends keeping within reach an emergency bag with important documents, spare keys, clothes, medicines and essentials, for you and your dependants, including entertainment for the children, kept somewhere accessible and safe or with a relative or trusted person who has no communication with the aggressor. The documents it lists are: a copy of the protection order; official ID issued by a state or federal government authority, such as a driver’s licence, passport, social security card or electoral card; health plan card; the children’s birth certificates and the marriage certificate; a copy of the property deeds; bank account and credit card numbers; contacts of relatives or friends; the state and municipal police emergency number; and contacts of domestic-violence shelters.

3. 3

   Step 3: The safety password

   The third block has three pieces. Setting a safety password shared with your children, relatives and trusted people, to use in an emergency where you cannot speak freely. Developing a telephone-call system that can alert trusted people that the aggressor is present, without raising his suspicion. And having a code word with your children meaning they should leave the house at once and go to a neighbour — arranged with that neighbour beforehand — so they are safe and can call the authorities.

4. 4

   Step 4: Personal safety, away from home

   The longest block. The Act recommends carrying a copy of the protection order with you at all times; calling the authorities immediately if the aggressor is loitering near your home, workplace or place of study; making sure your mobile device has no active person-tracker he can access, and having a mobile phone separate from his for emergencies; avoiding walking alone to your vehicle, especially at work or your place of study; parking in lit, busy places; trying not to keep a routine he can easily identify; identifying alternative routes to work, study or to collect the children; having a separate bank account or credit card giving you immediate access to money and helping you build economic independence; as far as possible, not using computers you shared with him; avoiding the places he frequents; not meeting him, still less alone or in secluded places; rescheduling any appointment you had while living together; keeping your activities confidential and avoiding posting them on social media; keeping a diary of incidents relating to his conduct towards you; keeping contacts of professionals such as psychologists to hand; and informing the children’s school or day care about the protection order, making clear who is authorised to collect them.

5. 5

   Step 5: Safety at home

   The Act recommends identifying the vulnerable places in your home and the escape routes in an emergency; telling neighbours about your situation and asking them to call the authorities if they hear noises or suspicious situations; keeping sharp objects, weapons, knives or anything usable against you in safe places, and during arguments moving to places out of his reach, avoiding spaces with no way out; keeping the home well lit throughout and, if you can, installing motion sensors and securing doors and windows; if your vehicle is in the carport or garage, keeping it in reverse with a full tank and the keys always accessible; changing any lock or padlock giving access to the home; keeping the shrubs trimmed for visibility so he cannot hide in them; impressing on the children and dependants that they must not let him in, and setting an alert mechanism if he gets in; and, if you move out of the home you shared, avoiding using your address on easily discoverable documents and considering a post office box.

6. 6

   Step 6: Electronic accounts and social media

   For electronic accounts, the Act recommends changing the password to one he does not know; creating a new account different from the one used while you were together; always closing or logging out of your sessions; and not opening any file he sends attached to an email. For social media: limiting how much identifying information you use; blocking his access; being careful with what you post — photos, status updates and especially check-ins and information about places you will visit, which reveal your destination, plans and interests; setting your accounts to private, remembering that people who are not him but who are in contact with him also have access; making sure no account has an active location tracker; and, as the closing point, that the best security on social media is not to put personal or identifying information there at all.

7. 7

   Step 7: Trusted people who do not speak to him

   The eighth block is short and specific: identifying trusted people, “preferably ones who have no communication or relationship with the aggressor”, whom you can turn to in an emergency; keeping their contacts to hand; identifying one who can help you given his dangerousness and stay with you in an emergency; and agreeing with that person a specific time every day to contact them, along with the course of action to follow if they cannot reach you.

8. 8

   Step 8: What is law and what is recommendation

   Worth saying so nobody feels at fault. Article 2.1-C says the guide “may include, among other elements, the following”, and within each block uses formulas such as “the victim shall be provided with suggestions” and “it shall be recommended to them”. The obligation is to hand over the guide; the content is recommendations the Act writes for you. None of them is a requirement for obtaining or keeping a protection order.

There is no procedure to complete here. The guide is handed by the Court of First Instance to the victim in whose favour the protection order was issued, and the plan comes out of it. The protection order is sought at court; Article 2.1-B adds that the court must issue one without further proceedings when it finds cause for arrest for an offence under this Act, for no less than a year where the accused is a repeat offender and no less than six months on a first offence, first explaining to the victim the reason for the order and its scope.

• Believing the plan is a requirement for keeping the protection order: the Act frames it as a recommendation, not a duty on the victim.
• Leaving the bag at home: the Act suggests keeping it with a relative or trusted person who has no communication with the aggressor.
• Forgetting the copy of the protection order: it heads the document list and it is also recommended to carry it at all times.
• Not including pets in the escape plan: the Act mentions them expressly.
• Not rehearsing the plan: the Act speaks of the desirability of rehearsing it.
• Not talking to the neighbour first: the code word with the children assumes that neighbour already knows.
• Continuing to use the shared phone or computer: the Act recommends a separate mobile and avoiding shared computers.
• Leaving the phone’s or social accounts’ location tracker on: it appears twice in the list.
• Posting check-ins and plans: the Act names them as what reveals your destination.
• Not telling the school or day care: the protection order must be reported and it must be clear who may collect the children.
• Not keeping an incident diary: the Act recommends it under personal safety.
• Using your new address on easily discoverable documents: the Act suggests avoiding it and considering a post office box.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov