Police soon may be able to see social service records from their car's computers to help them better address issues of at-risk children.

In direct response to the slaying of 23-month-old Cyrus Belt, who was thrown from a freeway overpass last week, state Department of Human Services director Lillian Koller met with police officials Wednesday to determine whether police would be interested in tapping into the state's child welfare computer system.

"We're continuing to work with DHS," said Capt. Frank Fujii, Police Department spokesman. "We're in support of whatever we can do to help our children."

The morning of Cyrus' death, he was found by an off-duty police officer wandering across the street from his home on 'Iolani Avenue and returned home. Fifteen minutes later, he was tossed from the Miller Street footbridge onto the H-1 Freeway below. A child welfare worker had been scheduled to visit the afternoon that Belt died.

The man accused of throwing him, Matthew M. Higa, is being held on $1 million bail after being indicted yesterday by an O'ahu grand jury today on a single count of murder in the second degree.

"If the police had let us know that they had found the kid wandering, we would have elevated our response," said Toni Schwartz, DHS acting spokeswoman. "But this was just an initial meeting (Wednesday) and we put this out because we wanted people to know we are taking action."

NEW SYSTEM IN 2009

As first responders, police need information on child welfare issues at their fingertips, Koller said. The cost of training the officers and installing the new software would be borne by DHS, Koller said.

Currently, a police officer can call a reporting hot line when he or she comes in contact with children. However, many issues, including privacy concerns, still need to be worked out. The state DHS is in the process of replacing an aging information system that was installed in the 1980s, Koller said. The new system is Internet-based and is scheduled to roll out in 2009.

Psychologist Steven Choy, director of the Kapi'olani Child Protection Center, said one of the key issues is that police officers don't have organized training to identify child abuse and neglect.

"This has been one of the weak links," Choy said. "Police can call CPS (child welfare agency) but they have to make the call. It's really a judgment issue. They're the least trained with child abuse and other risk factors and how to identify them."

MORE MEASURES

In addition to the pairing of police and child welfare records, state lawmakers are working on several measures that would help protect children, said Rep. John Mizuno, D-30th (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), vice chairman for the House Health Committee.

Those measures include: