World News: De-escalation at the push of a button? There's an app for that

Top things you may have missed about policing this week

FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2017, file photo, customers look at iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus phones at an Apple Store in San Francisco. Apple is trying to drag the U.S.'s antiquated system for handling 911 calls into the 21st century. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) ORG XMIT: NYAG102

De-escalation at the push of a button? There's an app for that

Officers responding to 911 calls can now arm themselves with technology that could help de-escalate dangerous situations.

RideAlong is an app that shares background information with responding officers about people who have frequent interactions with law enforcement. The app provides data via phones, laptops and dashboard computers to officers before they arrive on the scene and gives clues about the best way to respond.

Knowledge about a mental health issue, for example, could prompt the officer to use proven methods to calm an individual down instead of resorting to force or drawing a weapon.

The goal of the app's inventors? To fill the gap in "real-time information" that is vital for helping officers and other service professionals in the field.

The struggle for police transparency

California's laws prevent the public from seeing disciplinary files for the state's police officers. In fact, unions have pushed for such tight controls that even prosecutors have a hard time gaining access, making California one of the least transparent states in the country.

But a landmark bill that may change the state's confidentiality rules has inched one step closer to passage.

The bill would open police misconduct records related to serious crimes such as investigations of officer shootings, confirmed sexual assault and lying on duty. The bill exempts incidents involving Tasers.

The state's restrictive law dates back about four decades and was prompted by the Los Angeles Police Department shredding problematic personnel documents.

Lawmakers have been working to increase police transparency ever since, but they have repeatedly encountered pushback from police unions that argue the law rightly protects officer safety.

Schools, cops and long distance rifles

The top items for most back-to-school shoppers include the usual — notebooks, backpacks, pencils. Topping the list for some school resource officers in North Dakota: rifles.

The Bismarck Police Department is asking for funds from the city to purchase AR-15s, along with gun safes to store the weapons on school grounds, and bulletproof vests, as part of the 2019 budget.

The police department will split the cost for the supplies with the school district (the police department will pay for the rifles) and, if the request is approved, the funds will be provided in January.

The district's six school resource officers currently carry handguns, which are not as effective as AR-15s at shooting over long distances.

A plea to weed out unethical prosecutors

Prosecutors in the US can break the law with virtual impunity.

And crime novelist John Grisham — a member of the Innocence Project's board of directors and a former criminal defense attorney — is asking New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to change that.

Legislation that would create a Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct is awaiting the governor's signature. It landed on his desk earlier this month.

The commission would investigate alleged illegal activity and discipline guilty prosecutors.

In a Wall Street Journal column this week Grisham notes that prosecutors across the country who do things such as conceal evidence, make false statements and intimidate witnesses are protected from civil suits (thanks to a 1976 Supreme Court decision) and that judges rarely impose sanctions.

Grisham calls the bill "a critical starting point for New York and the states that will follow its lead."

Find more on police and policing nationwide at policing.usatoday.com.

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