An exclusive 5 On Your Side Investigation has uncovered Cleveland fails to protect domestic violence from their abusers.
Our investigative team reviewed every temporary protection order issued between January 2015 and March 2016.
We found 127 of the 445 orders issued were never served.
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A temporary protection order is a critical tool to help women escape violent relationships.
The orders can be used to ban abusers from contacting their victims and force abusers to leave their victims' homes.
An abuser can be arrested for violating the terms of the order.
However, we found a systemic flaw often makes the orders ineffective.
According to federal law, the orders cannot be enforced until an abuser is served the order in person.
Why is Cleveland failing to track down abusers who need to get served?
Our investigation uncovered how the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County fail to close the dangerous loophole that leaves abuse victims at risk.
Monday on NewsChannel 5 at 11 p.m., Investigator Sarah Buduson dives deeper into "Temporary Protection Order Failures."
