Domestic violence is one of the most common calls that law enforcement gets, and Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson says restraining orders do not always stop the violence.

“The restraining order, the goal is to give a person an order, to tell them what they can and can’t do and so forth.”

Gibson says a restraining order helps when filing charges against an abuser but says it’s not a defense mechanism.

“It’s meant to tell a person maybe ‘hey, there’s more that could happen to you should you do a, b, c, or d.”

Gibson says the paper won’t guarantee that the abuser will stay away.

“I mean that person can accept it and say I’m staying away and saying I don’t want to be in this bind, or they can be that person that says, ‘I don’t care what the order says, and they’re going to do something from there.”

He says there are other things you can do to protect yourself in addition to filing a restraining order.

“You need to make sure you’re cautious, not putting yourself in an isolated incident if you can, meaning home alone or traveling alone.”

Gibson recommends always having at least one person with you at all times.

“Make sure you have communications with you whenever you’re traveling, via phone, especially this day in age, to where if you run into problems whenever you’re traveling, you have a line so you can dial 911 and get law enforcement involved and so forth.”

He says you may have to change your lifestyle some so that you do not find yourself alone in a vulnerable position, but it is the best way to protect yourself from your abuser.

Reporting in Acadia Parish, Britt Lofaso, KLFY News 10.”