The police play an important role in implementing risk management strategies to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV). The focus of this study was to investigate the use of a restraining order (RO) as a risk management strategy and its crime preventive effect. Two hundred and fourteen male spousal assaulters assessed with the B-SAFER in a Swedish police county between 2005 and 2007 were followed up in 2009. Thirty- one per cent received a RO of which 44% relapsed into new IPV. There were no differences in recidivism between those who received a RO and those who did not. However, those assessed as low or medium risk for IPV were less likely to recidivate if they had a RO issued upon them than those assessed as high risk. These results indicate that the RO may be a useful crime preventive strategy for IPV in those spe- cific cases, but not in general, and not for those assessed to present a high risk of future violence.