3. a. At any time following the charge or conviction of a defendant for any crime directed at or committed against a judicial officer where there is a nexus between the alleged crime charged or the crime for which the defendant was convicted, as the case may be, and the performance of the judicial officer’s public duties, a petitioner may petition the Superior Court for emergency, ex parte relief in the form of a temporary order of protection if the court finds that the respondent poses a threat to the safety or well-being of the judicial officer or a family or household member of the judicial officer .

b. The court may issue a temporary protection order upon good cause shown in sworn testimony or petition by the petitioner. The temporary protection order shall remain in effect until a judge issues a further order.

c. Emergency relief granted in the temporary protection order may include forbidding the respondent from returning to the scene of the alleged crime, prohibiting the respondent from having any contact with the judicial officer, family or household members of the judicial officer, or the judicial officer’s friends, co-workers, or relatives in any way, forbidding the respondent from possessing any firearm or other weapon enumerated in subsection r. of N.J.S.2C:39-1, ordering the search for and seizure of any firearm or other weapon at any location where the court has reasonable cause to believe the weapon is located and the seizure of any firearms purchaser identification card or permit to purchase a handgun issued to the respondent. The court shall state with specificity the reasons for and the scope of any search and seizure authorized by the order.

d. An order granting emergency relief, together with the petition, shall be immediately served upon the respondent and forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for the municipalities in which the victim and the respondent reside.

e. For purposes of this section and section 4 of P.L.2021, c.327 (C. 2C:12-15):

(1) “Judicial officer” means any active, formerly active, or retired federal, state, county, or municipal judge, including a judge of the Tax Court and any other court of limited jurisdiction established, altered, or abolished by law, a judge of the Office of Administrative Law, a judge of the Division of Workers’ Compensation, and any other judge established by law who serves in the executive branch;

(2) “Law enforcement officer” means a person whose public duties include the power to act as an officer for the detection, apprehension, arrest, and conviction of offenders against the laws of this State;

(3) “Petitioner” means a law enforcement officer, a formerly active or retired judicial officer or a family or household member of such judicial officer, or an active judicial officer on behalf of whom a law enforcement officer has declined to petition the Superior Court pursuant to this section or a family or household member of such judicial officer; and

(4) “Family or household member” means a spouse, domestic partner as defined in section 3 of P.L.2003, c.246 (C. 26:8A-3), partner in a civil union couple as defined in section 2 of P.L.2006, c.103 (C. 37:1-29), or former spouse, former domestic partner, or former partner in a civil union couple, or any other person who is a present household member or was at any time a household member; a person with whom the respondent has a child in common, or with whom the respondent anticipates having a child in common if one of the parties is pregnant; or a current or former dating partner.

L. 2021, c.327, s.3.