ST. LOUIS • Earlier this summer, when her ex-husband was still actively stalking her, Carol Cromer said it would have been out of the question for her to share her harrowing story, as she did Tuesday.

Cromer spoke at the first meeting of a new domestic violence task force spearheaded by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.

Despite her ex-husband's five years of police and court involvement, including three arrests, Cromer told the task force's 11 members that he continued to terrorize her and her family with verbal and written threats, vandalism, arson and eventually gunfire. It would have been too dangerous for her and her family to go public.

But it wasn't Missouri's blanket of domestic violence laws that finally enabled the St. Charles grandmother to feel safe enough to speak about the ordeal that forced her, her children and even her grandchildren into hiding.

It was her ex-husband's suicide in early August that finally set her free.

"I have experienced the need for better law with stronger consequences," she told the group and about 40 audience members gathered at the campus of Washington University School of Medicine. "I have come to realize that not all law enforcement has been educated in the area of domestic violence."

Cromer's testimony was at the heart of the first of three task force meetings planned for this month around the state. Koster said the sessions are designed to gather ideas from advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and others about ways to strengthen Missouri's existing domestic violence laws.

"What we want to do is make sure that every appropriate escape valve is available for victims before a situation reaches a crisis point," said Koster, prior to the meeting.

He and advocates hope to eventually come up with ideas for legislators to strengthen laws to prosecute and control dangerous, often repeat offenders while providing better safety and support for domestic violence victims like Cromer, who told the panel, "I will never forget what my family and I had to go through to attempt to get justice."

Koster established the task force last month at the urging of victims advocates, including Colleen Coble, chief executive officer of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse. Coble also serves on the task force.

Several lawmakers were invited to serve as panelists. In the St. Louis meeting, those panelists, all Democrats, included Sens. Joan Bray of University City, and Robin Wright-Jones of St. Louis, and Reps. Tishaura Jones of St. Louis, Margo McNeil of Florissant, Stacey Newman of St. Louis, Jeff Roorda of Barnhart and Jill Schupp of Creve Coeur.

Coble told the panel Tuesday that despite 30 years worth of laws addressing domestic violence in Missouri, the state still has a rampant problem.

Last year 50,000 Missourians sought some sort of formal support or court help to resolve a domestic violence issue, Coble said. Some 11,000 people utilized emergency domestic violence shelters, the majority of them children of victims, she said.

Coble said for every two women admitted to a shelter, three were turned away for a lack of beds, leaving hundreds of victims and their families at grave risk.

"Over the course of those 30 years, there has never been a full review of all those laws to identify consistency, conflicts, or whether there's something out of date and needs to be removed," she said.

Tuesday's meeting included testimony by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis Family Court Judge Michael Burton, as well as local law enforcement and several victim and court advocates.

Gaps in laws — particularly in orders of protection — were recognized early on during Tuesday's session. Coble noted that teenagers cannot obtain a formal court order of protection against an abusive boyfriend or girlfriend who is a minor. Unlike many other states, Missouri's orders of protection do not have catch-all powers that enable judges to cater their restrictions on a case-by-case basis.

Overall, orders of protection are not issued fast enough to victims, which, in turn, causes victims to frequently drop charges or balk before testifying against an abuser, testified Dwight Scroggins, prosecuting attorney for Buchanan County.

Bray said Missouri is one of only a handful of states in the nation that has failed to give judges the power to order the removal of handguns and other weapons in an abusive home. Bray has unsuccessfully drafted bills proposing the court power.

Coble and others said police and courts inconsistently apply domestic violence laws around the state.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, also a task force member, noted that child orders of protection are frequently misused by family law attorneys during divorce and custody disputes, further weakening domestic violence orders of protection.

McCulloch said prosecutors must constantly grapple with whether to go after an abuser if a victim gets scared and refuses to testify.

Despite the myriad issues, lawmakers on the panel were reminded not to blame the victim and to keep people like Cromer in their thoughts.

"I'm embarrassed to be a lawmaker in a state where this type of torment and violence was allowed to proceed," said Roorda.

The next task force meeting is set for Sept. 20 in Columbia. A formal report on the task force's findings is to be written prior to the next legislative session, Koster said.