Here are some things that you need to know about involuntary committments:
The person must represent an immediate
threat of serious injury to themself or others in order to be committed
involuntarily.
Substance abuse, alone, does not make a
person a candidate for involuntary committment.
Law enforcement officers &
magistrates can not commit a person involuntarily for pysychiatric treatment
without assessment and authorization of an authorized mental health
provider.
After committment papers are issued, the
person in question is transported to a local facility for a brief
evaluation. If, after evaluating the subject in person, the assessing
official does not find that this person meets the criteria for involuntary
committment, law enfocement officers will have to return the person to the
location from where they were picked up or other wise release them based on
the discretion of the person in question.
Law enforcment officers are the only
people authorized to serve committment papers and if a mentally ill subject
becomes violent it may become necessary to use force to take this person
into custody. Such individuals may ultimately be charged criminally for such
conduct, depending upon their mental status as determined by the evaluating
mental facility. Anyone that interferes with law enforcement while they are
taking a mental patient into custody may also be charged as well.
If you feel that you need to have a friend or
relative committed, here are some procedures that you
need to follow to more quickly and effectively find out if that person is
subject to involuntary committment:
During normal work hours-contact
Smokey Mountain Counseling Center at (828)456-9452
After hours & on weekends/holidays-contact
The TEACH Hotline at 1-800-367-7287.
Following this procedure will save you a trip to the
magistrate's office and the wait for a return call while at the magistrate's
office.
