'Just Call 911' Isn’t a Safety Plan
How Law Enforcement’s Failure to Serve a Restraining Order Put My Family at Risk
In a recent post, I wrote about the sustained and escalating harassment I’ve endured from Thomas Evenstad—a convicted rapist and stalker with a long history of threatening behavior.
I shared how his actions, including direct threats and an open arson investigation at my home, forced my family to make impossible decisions about our safety.
I also detailed how a judge in Dakota County granted a Harassment Restraining Order (HRO) against Evenstad last month, one of the only tools available to try to establish a legal line he could not cross.
This post is about what happened next and how the very system designed to protect victims like me not only failed to act, but it failed to care.
The HRO Was Granted and Then Ignored
On November 10, 2025, I filed and was granted an HRO against Thomas Evenstad, who was sitting in the Dakota County Jail for violating an HRO granted by the staffer for the Republican Party of Minnesota.
Included in the paperwork I filed with the court was a form titled “Law Enforcement Information Form.”
The Law Enforcement Information Form is something most people have never heard of until they need it. It’s a confidential document that provides law enforcement with the basic details they need to help serve court documents.
The instructions on the form read:
The Sheriff will personally serve the Harassment Restraining Order (HRO) on the Respondent. It is important that the Sheriff have accurate and detailed information to help locate the Respondent and avoid delay.
Below are the full instructions.
I filled out the form correctly and informed the court staff in Dakota County - both on the form and over the phone - that Evenstad was in custody at the Dakota County Jail.
10 Days. No Action. A Stunning Discovery
I later received a signed copy of the HRO and reported that I had been granted the HRO against Evenstad, who remained in the Dakota County Jail until November 20, 2025. Evenstad was released after posting bail of $200.
On Monday, the Eagan Police were called to my home after Evenstad violated the conditions of the HRO. I filed a police report and waited for news that Evenstad was back in jail.
But after not receiving any updates, I contacted court staff in Dakota County on Tuesday morning and learned something unimaginable.
The Dakota County Sheriff’s office never served Evenstad with the HRO granted by a judge nearly a month ago. They had 10 days to do it, while Evenstad was in their custody at the Dakota County Jail.
They failed to serve him, and as a direct result, Evenstad could not be charged with violating the HRO after police were called to my home.
Evenstad should be back in the Dakota County Jail for violating the HRO I was granted, but he’s not because the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office failed to do its job.
Chasing Accountability
After learning that Evenstad hadn’t been served and wouldn’t face any consequences, my focus shifted to ensuring that Evenstad was served with the HRO as quickly as possible. This was more complicated because Evenstad knew I had filed and was granted an HRO, but it wasn’t in effect because he hadn’t been served.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office informed me that Evenstad had successfully evaded attempts by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to serve him with the HRO. I was also told that the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office would be working into the night to serve him directly.
Because Evenstad was evading service and given his extensive criminal history, I requested that the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office dispatch a deputy to my home and have the deputy remain outside in their vehicle until Evenstad was served.
I was told “they didn’t have the budget” to assign a deputy to my home, and that if Evenstad were to show up, I should “just call 911.”
I was frustrated by this response, as it was a reasonable request, given that the safety of my family and me was in jeopardy due to the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office's failure to serve Evenstad during the 10 days he was in the Dakota County Jail after I was granted the HRO.
Because “just call 911” is a viable safety plan, I prepared to leave my home with my family for the second time in the past month because of Evenstad.
But just before 6 PM last evening, I then received a phone call from the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office that Evenstad had been served - 23 days after the HRO was granted.
I spent the entire day working the phones, sending emails, and doing anything I could to ensure Evenstad was served with the HRO. I didn’t do any work. I didn’t eat. I didn’t leave my home. I took over 19,000 steps while working on the phone, but I never left my house.
The System Isn’t Just Broken. It’s Indifferent.
The frustration I experienced this week confirms exactly what I feared when I began writing about the threats against me: the system that’s supposed to protect people is broken, or worse, indifferent.
If an HRO can’t be served when the subject is already in jail, what hope is there that it will be enforced when he’s walking free?
When someone like Evenstad, who has a history of stalking, threats, and criminal convictions, violates a court order, the response should be automatic and serious.
Instead, the answer I keep getting is:
“Just call 911.”
That’s not protection. That’s a reaction.
It’s not a safety plan. It’s a shrug.
This is the reality for people who report harassment.
You’re not just fighting the threat, you’re fighting the institutions that are supposed to protect you from it.
It’s physically exhausting and emotionally draining.
This system is broken, and people like me and far too many others are paying the price for its failures.
We need accountability.
We need change.
We need it before another person is targeted, threatened, and ignored.
Because “just call 911” shouldn’t be the beginning and end of the conversation.
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Maddening that the RO wasn't served on him while they had him in jail. Understandable that you would be angry, I would too. I hope you are tracking down who was responsible for the actual service. Personally, I've known two police officers who have died in the line of duty, so I'm troubled by negative stories that paint all police with too broad of a brush.