(a) The Office of the Administrator of Courts shall develop and prepare instructions and informational brochures, standard petitions and risk protection order forms, and a court staff handbook on the extreme risk protection order process. The standard petition and order forms must be used after January 1, 2024, for all petitions filed and orders issued pursuant to this subchapter. The office shall determine the significant non-English-speaking or limited English-speaking populations and prepare the instructions and informational brochures and standard petitions and risk protection order forms in such languages. The instructions, brochures, forms, and handbook must be prepared in consultation with interested persons, including representatives of gun violence prevention groups, judges, the Virgin Islands Police Department, the Department of Health and law enforcement personnel. Materials must be based on best practices and must be available online to the public.
(b) The instructions must be designed to assist petitioners in completing the petition and must include a sample of a standard petition and order for protection forms.
(c) The instructions and standard petition must include a means for the petitioner to identify, with only layman’s knowledge, the firearms or ammunition the respondent may own, possess, receive, or have in his or her custody or control. The instructions must provide pictures of types of firearms and ammunition that the petitioner may choose from to identify the relevant firearms or ammunition or must provide an equivalent means to allow petitioners to identify firearms or ammunition without requiring specific or technical knowledge regarding the firearms or ammunition.
(d) The informational brochure must describe the use of and the process for obtaining, extending, and vacating an extreme risk protection order under this subchapter and must provide relevant forms.
(e) The risk protection order form must include, in a conspicuous location, notice of the criminal penalties resulting from a violation of the order and the following statement: “You have the sole responsibility to avoid or refrain from violating this order’s provisions. Only the court can change the order and only upon written request.”
(f) The court staff handbook must allow for the addition of a community resource list by the clerk of the court.
(g) Any clerk of court may create a community resource list of crisis intervention, mental health, substance abuse, interpreter, counseling, and other relevant resources serving the county in which the court is located. The court may make the community resource list available as part of or in addition to the informational brochures described in subsection (a).
(h) The Office of the Administrator of Courts shall distribute a master copy of the petition and order forms, instructions, and informational brochures to the clerks of court. Distribution of all documents shall, at a minimum, be in an electronic format or formats accessible to all courts and clerks of court in the Territory.
(i) Within 90 days after receipt of the master copy from the Office of the Administrator of Courts, the clerk of the court shall make available the standardized forms, instructions, and informational brochures required by this subsection.
(j) The Office of the Administrator of Courts shall update the instructions, brochures, standard petition and risk protection order forms, and court staff handbook as necessary, including when changes in the law make an update necessary.