Colorado’s Emergency Civil Arrest – Commitment Laws

Here is the law in Colorado that authorizes the Police to take into custody a person under certain well defined conditions.

Some case law that interprets the statute should be considered first:

Due process of law does not require an in-person evaluation by an intervening professional prior to placement on an involuntary hold. Tracz v. Centennial Peaks, 9 P.3d 1168 (Colo. App. 2000).

The Purpose of this section is designed to protect the mentally ill person from himself. Kendall v. People, 126 Colo. 573, 252 P.2d 91 (1952).

This civil commitment law requires strict compliance. In situations involving involuntary confinement, strict compliance with this article is a necessity. People in Interest of Henderson, 44 Colo. App. 102, 610 P.2d 1350 (1980).

A proceeding under this article is a civil, not a criminal action. Kendall v. People, 126 Colo. 573, 252 P.2d 91 (1952).

The law recognizes that an adverse finding of mental illness bears grave consequences in that the person may be denied his liberty and incapacitated to contract, and while it does not necessarily bring his name or reputation into disrepute, it is, nevertheless, a blot on his/her life and those he might have brought into being. Kendall v. People, 126 Colo. 573, 252 P.2d 91 (1952).

Use of this emergency procedure is not limited to patients who decline voluntary treatment. People in Interest of Paiz, 43 Colo. App. 352, 603 P.2d 976 (1979).

“Probable cause” that is required under this law is not measured by a legal technicality, but by the factual and practical considerations upon which a reasonable physician acts. People in Interest of Paiz, 43 Colo. App. 352, 603 P.2d 976 (1979).

No court hearing or 24-hour notice is required to take mentally ill person into custody under this section. Nor does this section specify that the patient must designate or approve of the treatment facility to which he is committed. Ketchum v. Cruz, 775 F. Supp. 1399 (D. Colo. 1991).

Voluntary treatment program is not terminated when a patient taken into custody and then returned to hospita

1. Emergency procedure may be invoked under either one of the following two conditions:
   1. 1. When any person appears to have a mental illness and, as a result of such mental illness, appears to be an imminent danger to others or to himself or herself or appears to be gravely disabled, then a person specified in subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (a), each of whom is referred to in this section as the “intervening professional”, upon probable cause and with such assistance as may be required, may take the person into custody, or cause the person to be taken into custody, and placed in a facility designated or approved by the executive director for a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation.
         (HMS Editor’s Note: this section gives certain professionals the ability – under clearly defined circumstances, to effect the civil “arrest” )
      2. The following persons may effect a seventy-two-hour hold as provided in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (a):
         1. A certified peace officer;
         2. A professional person;
         3. A registered professional nurse as defined in section 12-38-103 (11), C.R.S., who by reason of postgraduate education and additional nursing preparation has gained knowledge, judgment, and skill in psychiatric or mental health nursing;
         4. A licensed marriage and family therapist or licensed professional counselor, licensed under the provisions of part 5 or 6 of article 43 of title 12, C.R.S., or an addiction counselor licensed pursuant to section 12-43-804 (3), C.R.S., who by reason of postgraduate education and additional preparation has gained knowledge, judgment, and skill in psychiatric or clinical mental health therapy, forensic psychotherapy, or the evaluation of mental disorders; or
         5. A licensed clinical social worker licensed under the provisions of part 4 of article 43 of title 12, C.R.S.
            (HMS Editor’s Note: this section requires that professional to provide a judge sufficient facts to grant the arrest)
   2. Upon an affidavit sworn to or affirmed before a judge that relates sufficient facts to establish that a person appears to have a mental illness and, as a result of the mental illness, appears to be an imminent danger to others or to himself or herself or appears to be gravely disabled, the court may order the person described in the affidavit to be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated or approved by the executive director for a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation. Whenever in this article a facility is to be designated or approved by the executive director, hospitals, if available, shall be approved or designated in each county before other facilities are approved or designated. Whenever in this article a facility is to be designated or approved by the executive director as a facility for a stated purpose and the facility to be designated or approved is a private facility, the consent of the private facility to the enforcement of standards set by the executive director shall be a prerequisite to the designation or approval. (HMS Editor’s Note: the following section determines the conditions under which a civil commitment must take place – the location and the environment.)
   1.1
   1. When a person is taken into custody pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, such person shall not be detained in a jail, lockup, or other place used for the confinement of persons charged with or convicted of penal offenses; except that such place may be used if no other suitable place of confinement for treatment and evaluation is readily available. In such situation the person shall be detained separately from those persons charged with or convicted of penal offenses and shall be held for a period not to exceed twenty-four hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, after which time he or she shall be transferred to a facility designated or approved by the executive director for a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation. If the person being detained is a juvenile, as defined in section 19-1-103 (68), C.R.S., the juvenile shall be placed in a setting that is nonsecure and physically segregated by sight and sound from the adult offenders. When a person is taken into custody and confined pursuant to this subsection (1.1), such person shall be examined at least every twelve hours by a certified peace officer, nurse, or physician or by an appropriate staff professional of the nearest designated or approved mental health treatment facility to determine if the person is receiving appropriate care consistent with his or her mental condition.
   2. A sheriff or police chief who violates the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1.1) related to detaining juveniles may be subject to a civil fine of no more than one thousand dollars. The decision to fine shall be based on prior violations of the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1.1) by the sheriff or police chief and the willingness of the sheriff or police chief to address the violations in order to comply with paragraph (a) of this subsection (1.1).
2. Such facility shall require an application in writing, stating the circumstances under which the person’s condition was called to the attention of the intervening professional and further stating sufficient facts, obtained from the personal observations of the intervening professional or obtained from others whom he or she reasonably believes to be reliable, to establish that the person has a mental illness and, as a result of the mental illness, is an imminent danger to others or to himself or herself or is gravely disabled. The application shall indicate when the person was taken into custody and who brought the person’s condition to the attention of the intervening professional. A copy of the application shall be furnished to the person being evaluated, and the application shall be retained in accordance with the provisions of section 27-10-120 (3).
3. If the seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation facility admits the person, it may detain him or her for evaluation and treatment for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays if evaluation and treatment services are not available on those days. For the purposes of this subsection (3), evaluation and treatment services are not deemed to be available merely because a professional person is on call during weekends or holidays. If, in the opinion of the professional person in charge of the evaluation, the person can be properly cared for without being detained, he or she shall be provided services on a voluntary basis.
4. Each person admitted to a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation facility under the provisions of this article shall receive an evaluation as soon as possible after he or she is admitted and shall receive such treatment and care as his or her condition requires for the full period that he or she is held. The person shall be released before seventy-two hours have elapsed if, in the opinion of the professional person in charge of the evaluation, the person no longer requires evaluation or treatment. Persons who have been detained for seventy-two-hour evaluation and treatment shall be released, referred for further care and treatment on a voluntary basis, or certified for treatment pursuant to section 27-10-107.