Wallet card bolsters protection orders

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court is introducing a wallet-sized card designed to assist domestic-violence victims who have received civil-protection orders.

The card, which can be carried by a victim at all times, contains information from the protection order, including identifying characteristics of the person ordered to stay away and dates of issuance and expiration. There is no fee for the CPO or the card.

The plastic card, which resembles a credit card or driver’s license, provides a practical method for victims to provide police with information needed to verify and enforce the order, said Judge Beth A. Smith of domestic relations court.

The cards are more durable and convenient to carry than the 81/2-by-11-inch paper court orders themselves, said Judge Smith, whose court receives an average of 800 requests for CPOs annually.

In the worst-case scenario in which someone with such an order is incapacitated and cannot speak to police, the wallet card could provide police with a starting point for their investigation as to who may have injured the victim, the judge said.

Judge Smith will introduce the new cards at a news conference Tuesday with local domestic-violence victim advocates and law-enforcement officials.