A new statute in Maryland directs that “An officer shall arrest with or without a warrant and take into custody a person who the officer has probable cause to believe is in violation of an interim, temporary, or final protective order [for domestic violence] in effect at the time of the violation.”¹ Training guidelines instruct officers that “You have no discretion about whether or not to arrest a respondent…You must arrest, whether [a] condition [of the Order] is violated in your presence … or a violation is called to your attention as having occurred … and you have probable cause to believe that the violation did occur as alleged…”²

Enactment of this statute and the issuance of the training guidelines instigated lively discussion among law enforcement professionals about the meaning of this mandatory arrest provision in light of the holding of the United States Supreme Court in Town of Castle Rock, Colorado v. Gonzales.³ The Castle Rock case illustrates the terrible tragedy of domestic violence in this country but realistically recognizes the role that law enforcement has in preventing these tragedies must often be limited.