Britney Spears britkap1.jpg Man, the story of last Thursday night just keeps getting sadder - now we're reading that, in the midst of all that mess, Britney was slapped with a temporary restraining order by the LAPD!

Mark Vincent Kaplan told People that the cops slapped Britney with an "emergency protective order" Thursday night in an effort to "stabilize the situation".

"Kevin doesn't want to keep his kids from being involved in [Spears's] life," Kaplan told the mag. "But foremost is that the kids be in an environment of structure and stability."

The LAPD, for its part, would not confirm the restraining order to the magazine. Spokesman Mike Lopez did, however, address just how an emergency protective order works, describing that "the person it's placed upon would have to stay approximately 100 feet from the other person, or face arrest."

As to why such an order was issued against Britney, Lopez responded that "In most cases, it's issued by officers when there's the possibility of imminent and immediate danger to the victim."

The good news for Britney is that an emergency protective order is only enforced for five business days, meaning Britney's is set to expire before the end of the week.

Unless, that is, Mark Kaplan decides to seek to extend it - something he specifically refused to comment about to People!