TCIC Protective Order Data Entry Form Texas: Codes, Deadlines, Errors

The TCIC Protective Order Data Entry Form is the standardized document Texas courts and law enforcement use to load a signed protective order into the Texas Crime Information Center, and completing it correctly means matching every field to the signed order: court identifiers, respondent identification, condition codes (PCO), Brady firearm indicator, expiration date, and protected person information. Missing or inconsistent entries force the entering agency back to the court and can leave a protected person exposed during the gap. The form is a free download from the Texas Judicial Branch, most recently revised May 2021.¹

Where to Download the Current Form

The Office of Court Administration hosts the official form on the Texas Judicial Branch standardized protective order forms page in both Word and PDF formats.² TexasLawHelp links to the same official version.³ Use whichever format your workflow supports, but always pull a fresh copy — using an outdated version can produce a record the database rejects.

Who Fills It Out

The form’s header states it is to be completed by the criminal justice or law enforcement official and released to authorized agencies only.¹ In practice, once a judge signs the protective order, the court clerk transmits the signed order and the completed data entry form to the local law enforcement agency responsible for TCIC entry. The same clerk separately enters the order into the statewide Protective Order Registry maintained by the Office of Court Administration within 24 hours of issuance.⁴ The Registry and TCIC are separate systems: the Registry is used to verify and track orders statewide, while TCIC is the operational database officers query in the field.

Header and Court Identifying Information

The top of the form links the database record to a specific court order. Complete every identifier:

ORI, the Originating Agency Identifier assigned to the entering law enforcement agency.
Order type: standard Protective Order or Emergency Protective Order.
OCA number, the Office of Court Administration tracking number.
Protective Order number and Court Identifier, meaning the cause number and the specific court designation (for example, “County Court at Law No. 2”).
Issue date, date signed, expiration date, and date rescinded when applicable.

The expiration date carries real weight. A standard protective order lasts up to two years; if the order does not state a duration, it expires on the second anniversary of the date issued. A court may issue a longer order if the respondent committed a felony involving family violence, caused serious bodily injury, or was already the subject of two or more previous protective orders.⁵ Enter the exact date from the signed order. If no date is given and the order qualifies as nonexpiring, TCIC retains the record until it is canceled or cleared.

Respondent Identification

This is the most critical section. Every field should be completed; missing data will delay entry and force the entering agency to contact the court.¹ The form collects:

Full legal name and any aliases (AKAs), spelled exactly as they appear in the court order. One wrong letter can prevent a match during a law enforcement query.
Date of birth, sex, race, and ethnicity. Race uses the standard NCIC categories (Indian, Asian, Black, White, Unknown). Ethnicity is recorded separately as Hispanic, Non-Hispanic, or Unknown.
Physical descriptors: height, weight, skin tone, eye color, hair color, and any scars, marks, or tattoos. Officers use these during roadside encounters to confirm identity.
Numeric identifiers: driver’s license number with state and expiration, Texas ID number, Social Security number, and any miscellaneous ID. If the respondent has a prior criminal history in Texas, the State Identification (SID) number is also valuable.
Respondent address, and on page two, license plate number, vehicle identification number, year, make, model, and color.

Empty numeric identifier fields significantly reduce the chance the system will flag the respondent during a routine background check or traffic stop. When the information is available from the court file or the application, fill in every field.

Caution and Medical Indicators

The form includes numerically coded checkboxes that alert responding officers to safety-relevant conditions: “Armed and Dangerous” (00), “Violent Tendencies” (05), “Martial Arts Expert” (10), “Explosive Expertise” (15), “Known to Abuse Drugs” (20), “Escape Risk” (25), “Sexually Violent Predator” (30), and “Suicidal” (70), among others.¹ Check any indicator supported by the record. An officer approaching a respondent’s vehicle sees these flags on the mobile terminal before making contact.

Protection Order Conditions (PCO Codes)

The PCO section uses standardized codes that must match the conditions in the signed order. To simplify this, the Office of Court Administration’s protective order forms print the corresponding TCIC code next to each condition. If the order shows “TCIC Form PCO-08” next to a condition, check box 08 on the data entry form.⁴ The condition codes are:

PCO-01: Respondent is restrained from assaulting, threatening, harassing, following, or stalking the protected person or child.
PCO-02: Respondent may not threaten a member of the protected person’s family or household.
PCO-03: The protected person is granted exclusive possession of the residence.
PCO-04: Respondent must stay away from the protected person’s residence, school, workplace, or property.
PCO-05: Respondent is restrained from any communication with the protected person, including phone, written, or through third parties.
PCO-06: Respondent is awarded temporary custody of named children.
PCO-07: Respondent is prohibited from possessing or purchasing a firearm or other weapon.
PCO-08: See miscellaneous field for additional conditions.
PCO-09: The protected person is awarded temporary exclusive custody of named children.

Check only the codes the judge actually ordered. Adding conditions the court did not impose, or omitting conditions it did impose, creates a conflict between the court record and the enforcement record.

Brady Record Indicator and Firearm Prohibition

The Brady Record Indicator (BRD) section flags the firearm prohibition for both state and federal databases. Under Texas Family Code Section 85.022, a court may prohibit a respondent found to have committed family violence from possessing firearms and must suspend any handgun license the respondent holds, with an exception for active-duty peace officers.⁶

The BRD fields ask whether the respondent has been served (SVC) and whether the respondent is disqualified from possessing firearms (Y, N, or Unknown). Mark “Y” when the order qualifies as a federal firearm prohibition under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(8).⁷ The OCA instructions note that judges complete the federal findings section of the protective order by checking the box only if the three federal conditions are met, and that finding is what signals the person entering the data to include the federal prohibition, which transmits to NCIC and to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.⁴

Temporary or ex parte orders generally do not qualify federally because the respondent has not yet had a hearing. A state judge cannot waive the federal prohibition. Getting the BRD right has consequences beyond the record: when someone subject to a qualifying order attempts to buy a firearm and is denied by NICS, the FBI is required to notify state or local law enforcement within 24 hours of the denial, identifying the person, the reason, and the dealer’s location.⁸ Marking “N” on an order that actually qualifies could let a prohibited purchase go through unchecked.

Protected Person Information

Page two collects identifying information for each person the order protects. Enter the full legal name of every individual listed in the court order, along with the relationship between the respondent and each protected person. Texas Family Code Chapter 71 defines the relationship categories relevant to protective orders, including family members, household members, and individuals in dating relationships. The relationship affects which statutory provisions govern the order and can affect the federal firearm analysis.

If a protected person participates in the Texas Address Confidentiality Program administered by the Attorney General, use the substitute post office box address rather than the person’s actual home address. The ACP provides a legal substitute address specifically designed to keep the real location of domestic violence survivors hidden from court and government documents.⁹

Deadlines for Getting the Order Into TCIC

After the form is complete, the timeline for entry depends on the order type. For standard protective orders under Code of Criminal Procedure Article 6.08, the law enforcement agency must enter the information immediately upon receiving it from the clerk, and no later than 10 days after receipt.¹⁰ For a magistrate’s emergency protective order under Article 17.292, entry must happen no later than the third business day after the agency receives its copy. An agency can delay only if it lacks information necessary to ensure service and enforcement — which is another reason to complete every field on the form the first time.

Errors That Bounce the Form Back

Compare the completed form against the signed order before releasing it to the entering agency. The problems that most often produce a weak record or a rejected entry:

Misspelled names or wrong dates of birth. A single transposed digit can prevent a match when an officer runs the respondent’s name.
Missing numeric identifiers. Leaving driver’s license and Social Security fields blank when the information sits in the court file makes background-check matches unreliable.
Wrong expiration date. A date that does not match the signed order creates a conflict that can allow the record to expire prematurely in the system.
Incorrect Brady indicator. Marking “N” when the order meets the federal criteria under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(8) can allow a prohibited firearm purchase.
PCO codes that do not match the order. Checking conditions the judge did not order, or omitting conditions the judge did order, produces an enforcement record that contradicts the court record.

Where the Record Goes After Entry

Data entered into TCIC does not stay in Texas. The record feeds into the National Crime Information Center, making it visible to law enforcement in every state, and into NICS for firearms background checks.⁴¹¹ Within the federal NCIC Protection Order File, records remain active until the entering agency cancels or clears them or the expiration date passes. NCIC sends an automated message to the originating agency five days before expiration so the agency can update or extend the record if the court has renewed the order. If no expiration date is provided, the record stays active indefinitely until cleared. Every field the form asks for is a field an officer or a background-check examiner may rely on somewhere else in the country. Accuracy at the courthouse is what makes any of that work.

1
Texas Judicial Branch. TCIC Protective Order Data Entry Form
2
Texas State Law Library. Protective Orders – Commonly Requested Legal Forms
3
TexasLawHelp. TCIC Protective Order Data Entry Form
4
Texas Judicial Branch. Instructions for Completing Protective Order
5
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 85.025 – Duration of Protective Order
6
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 85.022 – Requirements of Order Applying to Person Who Committed Family Violence
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
8
Federal Bureau of Investigation. NICS Denial Notifications for Law Enforcement
9
Texas Department of Public Safety. Address Confidentiality Program
10
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 6.08 – Protective Order From Magistrate
11
Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas Crime Information Center