A dispute about whether the Castle Rock Police Department was required to enforce a civil restraining order was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005. The court held, in "Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales", that a municipality cannot be held liable under a federal civil-rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, for failing to enforce civil restraining orders. The case had arisen from a 1999 murder of three young girls by their father outside the Castle Rock Police Department building. The children were abducted by their father, in violation of the restraining order that had been obtained by their mother, within several hours of being killed. The mother had asked the Castle Rock police to enforce the restraining order,