Unfinished business

It has been a month since the murder of Carole Cross, the Lewiston woman who did all the right things to break away from an abusive relationship. She obtained a protection order. She had a police officer and two friends escort her to retrieve her belongs from her apartment. And, as she sat in a van ready to leave behind her abuser of 18 years, Kenneth Emrick aimed his rifle out of the apartment window and shot her dead. Emrick then killed himself.

The aftermath is almost as tragic as the crime itself. The local Abused Women’s Advocacy Project says the number of Lewiston-area women seeking court protection has dropped by more than half since Ms. Cross’ death and the no-show rate in court has tripled. There are reports of abusive men leaving newspaper accounts of the murder out as subtle warnings. Others are more blatant, flat-out telling their domestic captives that what happened to Carole Cross can happen to them.

Maine has tough domestic-violence laws. Law-enforcement takes the issue seriously and has trained officers to deal with it. There is a strong network of agencies to help battered women. But Maine also has a problem — half of the murders in recent years, including an appalling rash this summer, have been related to domestic violence. There are gaps in the system and lawmakers preparing for the upcoming session must close them.

Maine must stop talking about developing a statewide, on-line, 24-hour data base of protection orders and bail conditions and just develop it. Protection orders work in the vast majority of cases, but they do little good if an officer responding to a late-night situation in County A can’t find out about an order issued in County B.

The district court and probation systems are woefully understaffed and overworked. As a result, the quality of pre-sentence investigations and the ability to monitor compliance with conditions of release suffer. While personal-recognizance bail is an important protection against incarceration before conviction, the law must be revised to raise the stakes for those who violate its conditions.

Beyond the nuts and bolts, there is much more to do. Through effective public-information campaigns and other awareness initiatives, Maine has had considerable success in increasing child immunization rates and in decreasing teen pregnancy and drunk driving. The same can be done with domestic violence.

The rage that led Kenneth Emrick to pull the trigger Aug. 10 was building for years. The beatings, harassment and stalking he inflicted upon Carole Cross were no secret to friends, co-workers, employers and neighbors. The warning signs were there; more must be done to make them recognizable.

This upcoming legislative session is devoted to unfinished business and emergencies. Domestic violence qualifies on both counts.