The state Department of Human Services has proposed a sensible, even affordable, change in procedure that should narrow the information gap between child-welfare workers and police in their joint efforts to protect children.

DHS Director Lillian Koller last week committed her agency to making its database of at-risk children accessible to police computers.

It's an extension of Koller's policy favoring the public release of case files, with sensitive data redacted, to ferret out the key missteps when children fall through the cracks. More information can help policymakers figure out what's wrong and fix it.

In the sad case of Cyrus Belt, the toddler dropped from a freeway pedestrian overpass, more information may or may not have saved him, but it certainly would have brought further guidance to bear on the quick decisions by first responders.

Had the police and child-welfare databases been linked, the police officer who earlier in the day had found Cyrus wandering from his home might have learned of an inquiry under way by social workers into the safety of his home. His mother had, in recent weeks, tested positive for crystal methamphetamine use, which triggered the inquiry.

In addition to enabling access to welfare records, legislators and the Lingle administration are backing two other measures aimed to close information gaps: