Q: I am a victim of domestic violence, I have a 5 yr civil RO and a criminal RO against my ex husband. He violated both .

A: This is California so you can sue anybody for anything. I think your question is really, "If I sue the sheriff, will I win?" And the answer is probably not. What you're asking is really a liability question, or fault. Whether the sheriff dept is liable because he, the ex, kept getting out of jail and violating the order. Or maybe he, the ex, was not being arrested and held in jail when he should have been. Or that the sheriff should have kept him away from your house somehow. Unfortunately for you, that is not the level of liability. or fault, we hold police officers to.

What you're suggesting is what in the law we call strict liability, and that the sheriff dept would somehow be strictly liable, like if a dog bites you that has bitten before, the owner is strictly liable for the damages because he knew the dog would bit and it bit you. It sounds similar, but it's really not. Because a dog is under the control of the owner. A person is not. Generally in America we have strict liability in 3 areas - dangerous animals, dangerous activities, and product liability.

So another example would be someone using dynamite to blow up a hill to put in a roadway. If you are harmed by that, the person using the dynamite would be strictly liable because it is a recognized dangerous activity.

Another example would be with a bad product on the market, like a baby crib that collapses and suffocates the baby, and the manufacturer knows this and fails to warm you and your baby dies, that would likely be strict liability. But if we held police officers to that degree of liability, where would it end? A copy pulled someone over, caused a traffic jam, I was late for work and I got fired. Can I sue the police? Again, yes, but you won't win. There are too many other factors and too long a chain of events here. Same as in your case with your ex husband. Sheriffs don't keep people in jail, judges do. Sheriffs arrest them. Sheriffs don't guarantee you safety in your home, they respond when you call them once something has happened. You see the difference? Here is a video link that might explain it for you

https://study.com/academy/lesson/strict-liability-torts-definition-and-examples.html