Current Missouri law allows orders of protection for one year – potentially forcing domestic violence victims to repeatedly return to court and face their abuser. The Missouri House has given initial approval to a bill that would allow the victims to get a lifetime order of protection.
Representative Tracy McCreery, a Democrat from St. Louis County, successfully added a piece to the bill that would also add pets to orders of protection.
Lane Roberts of southwest Missouri’s Joplin is sponsoring the bill. Roberts is a former director of the state Department of Public Safety and a former Joplin police chief.
One more vote in favor of House Bill 744 would send the measure to the Senate.
