North Dakota Code 25-03.1-25 – Detention or hospitalization – Emergency procedure
1. When a peace officer, physician either in person or directing an emergency medical services professional, psychiatrist, physician assistant, psychologist, advanced practice registered nurse, or mental health professional has reasonable cause to believe that an individual is a person requiring treatment and there exists a serious risk of harm to that individual, others, or property of an immediate nature that considerations of safety do not allow preliminary intervention by a magistrate, the peace officer, physician either in person or directing an emergency medical services professional, psychiatrist, physician assistant, psychologist, advanced practice registered nurse, or mental health professional, using the screening process set forth in section 25-03.1-04, may cause the individual to be taken into custody and detained at a treatment facility as provided in subsection 3, and subject to section 25-03.1-26, except that if emergency conditions exist that prevent the immediate conveyance of the individual to a public treatment facility, a private facility that has adequate resources and capacity to hold that individual may hold the individual in anticipation of conveyance to a public treatment facility for up to twenty-three hours:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 25-03.1-25
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- written: include "typewriting" and "typewritten" and "printing" and "printed" except in the case of signatures and when the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See North Dakota Code 1-01-37
a. Without conducting an immediate examination required under section 25-03.1-26; and b. Without following notice and hearing requirements for a transfer to another treatment facility required under subsection 3 of section 25-03.1-34.
2. If a petitioner seeking the involuntary treatment of a respondent requests that the respondent be taken into immediate custody and the magistrate, upon reviewing the petition and accompanying documentation, finds probable cause to believe that the respondent is a person requiring treatment and there exists a serious risk of harm to the respondent, others, or property if allowed to remain at liberty, the magistrate may enter a written order directing that the respondent be taken into immediate custody and be detained as provided in subsection 3 until the preliminary or treatment hearing, which must be held no more than seven days after the date of the order.
3. Detention under this section may be:
a. In a treatment facility where the director or superintendent must be informed of the reasons why immediate custody has been ordered. The facility may provide treatment that is necessary to preserve the respondent’s life or to appropriately control behavior by the respondent which is likely to result in physical injury to self or to others if allowed to continue, but may not otherwise provide treatment to the respondent without the respondent’s consent; or
b. In a public or private facility in the community which is suitably equipped and staffed for the purpose. Detention in a jail or other correctional facility may not be ordered except in cases of actual emergency when no other secure facility is accessible, and then only for a period of not more than twenty-four hours and under close supervision.
4. Immediately upon being taken into custody, the individual must be advised of the purpose of custody, of the intended uses and possible effects of any evaluation that the individual undergoes, and of the individual’s rights to counsel and to a preliminary or treatment hearing.
5. Upon arrival at a facility the peace officer, physician, physician assistant, psychiatrist, psychologist, advanced practice registered nurse, or mental health professional who conveyed the individual or who caused the individual to be conveyed shall complete an application for evaluation and shall deliver a detailed written report from the peace officer, physician, physician assistant, psychiatrist, psychologist, advanced practice registered nurse, or the mental health professional who caused the individual to be conveyed. The written report must state the circumstances under which the individual was taken into custody. The report must allege in detail the overt act that constituted the basis for the beliefs that the individual is a person requiring treatment and that, because of that individual’s condition, there exists a serious risk of harm to that individual, others, or property if the individual is not immediately detained.
6. A peace officer maintains the peace officer’s power of arrest, detention, and transport, throughout the entire state during a transport or detention in accordance with this section.