Des Moines Register: Following months of public criticism of a small team of officers charged with leading de-escalation training for the Des Moines Police Department that included two officers named in excessive force and racial profiling lawsuits, the city will hire a third party to run its future training sessions. In the middle of a public-comment period at Monday’s Des Moines City Council meeting, Mayor Frank Cownie announced the city is in the process of negotiating a contract with the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that provides resources for law enforcement units across the country.