(a) A peace officer shall, upon the request of a petitioner, serve any temporary restraining order, order after hearing, or protective order issued pursuant to Sections 527.6, 527.8, and 527.85, Section 136.2 of the Penal Code, or Section 15657.03 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, on the respondent, whether or not the respondent has been taken into custody.
§ 527.12.Serving Temporary Restraining Order; Report; No Fee For Service
Title 7. Other Provisional Remedies In Civil Actions · Chapter 3. Injunction · Enacted 2024 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 527.12 requires a peace officer, at a protected person's request, to serve a civil harassment, workplace violence, or related restraining order on the restrained person free of charge, and sets rules for verifying, enforcing, and reporting an order that has not yet been formally served.
Full Text of § 527.12
(1) The petitioner shall provide the peace officer with an endorsed copy of the order and the officer shall complete and transmit the proof of service to the issuing court. It is a rebuttable presumption that the proof of service was signed on the date of service.
(2) If the protected person cannot produce an endorsed copy of the order, the peace officer shall immediately verify the existence of the order in the California Restraining and Protective Order System.
(3) If the peace officer determines that an order subject to this section has been issued but not served, the officer shall immediately notify the respondent of the terms of the order and advise the respondent to obtain a copy of the full order from the issuing court. Upon notice, the officer shall immediately enforce the order. The officer's verbal notice of the terms of the order shall constitute service of the order and is sufficient notice for the purposes of this section and for the purposes of Sections 273.6 and 29825 of the Penal Code.
(4) If an order served pursuant to this section is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13730 of the Penal Code, the report shall include the name and assignment of the peace officer who served the order and the case number of the order. If a report is not required, the information specified in this paragraph shall be included in the daily incident log of the officer's employing law enforcement agency.
(c) Notwithstanding any law, a fee shall not be charged to the petitioner for service of an order pursuant to this section.
(1) There shall be no civil liability on the part of, and no cause of action for false arrest or false imprisonment against, a peace officer who makes an arrest pursuant to a protective or restraining order that is regular upon its face, if the peace officer, in making the arrest, acts in good faith and has reasonable cause to believe that the person against whom the order is issued has notice of the order and has committed an act in violation of the order.
(2) If there is more than one order issued and one of the orders is an emergency protective order that has precedence in enforcement pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 136.2 of the Penal Code, the peace officer shall enforce the emergency protective order. If there is more than one order issued, none of the orders issued is an emergency protective order that has precedence in enforcement, and one of the orders issued is a no-contact order, the peace officer shall enforce the no- contact order. If there is more than one civil order regarding the same parties and neither an emergency protective order that has precedence in enforcement nor a no-contact order has been issued, the peace officer shall enforce the order that was issued last. If there are both civil and criminal orders regarding the same parties and neither an emergency protective order that has precedence in enforcement nor a no-contact order has been issued, the peace officer shall enforce the criminal order issued last, subject to the provisions of subdivisions (h) and (i) of Section 136.2 of the Penal Code. This section does not exonerate a peace officer from liability for the unreasonable use of force in the enforcement of the order. The immunities afforded by this section shall not affect the availability of any other immunity that may apply, including, but not limited to, Sections 820.2 and 820.4 of the Government Code.
(e) For purposes of this section, "peace officer" has the same meaning as that term is defined in Section 830 of the Penal Code.
(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2026.
Plain-English Summary
Section 527.12 makes sure a protected person doesn't have to pay, or navigate red tape, to get a restraining order served on the person it restrains. At the protected person's request, a peace officer must serve a civil harassment order under § 527.6, a workplace violence order under § 527.8, an order under § 527.85, a criminal protective order under Penal Code § 136.2, or an elder or dependent adult abuse order under Welfare and Institutions Code § 15657.03 — whether or not the restrained person is currently in custody.
The mechanics fill a practical gap. If the protected person doesn't have a copy of the order on hand, the officer must check the California Restraining and Protective Order System to confirm it exists. If the officer confirms an order exists but hasn't been formally served, the officer must tell the restrained person its terms on the spot and enforce it immediately — that verbal notice counts as service for enforcement purposes. Subdivision (c) makes clear none of this comes with a fee to the petitioner, and subdivision (d) protects an officer who makes a good-faith arrest under an order that looks valid on its face from civil liability for false arrest or false imprisonment.
Because protected people are sometimes covered by more than one order at once, subdivision (d)(2) also gives officers a hierarchy to follow — emergency protective orders take precedence, then no-contact orders, then whichever civil or criminal order was issued most recently — so there's a clear answer about which order controls in the field.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it cost anything to have a restraining order served by a peace officer?
No. Section 527.12(c) prohibits charging the petitioner a fee for this kind of service.
What if the protected person doesn't have a copy of the order with them?
The peace officer must verify the order's existence through the California Restraining and Protective Order System.
What happens if an order exists but was never formally served on the restrained person?
The officer must immediately tell the restrained person the order's terms and enforce it on the spot; that verbal notice counts as valid service.
Which order controls if someone is subject to more than one restraining order?
An emergency protective order with enforcement precedence comes first, then a no-contact order, then whichever remaining civil or criminal order was issued most recently.
Amendment History
Added by Stats 2024 ch 544 (SB 899),s 5, eff. 1/1/2025.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
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