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Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013 | 2 a.m.
The ever-bizarre saga of Assemblyman Steven Brooks' legal troubles took another strange turn Friday when police confiscated a sword from him while at a relative's house.
Brooks was taken in for mental health evaluation under the auspices of a "Legal 2000" form, a document that allows authorities to hold someone who may be a danger to himself or others.
According to the Legal 2000 form, a wide variety of positions of authority can start the process to hold a person for 72 hours.
Positions such as psychiatrists, social workers, registered nurses, and officers authorized to make arrests in Nevada may fill out the first sheet of the form. For someone to be held, the second sheet of the form must be filled out by a physician who has examined the person.
Lesley Dickson, the executive director of the Nevada Psychiatric Association, said police receive some instruction to help them evaluate people, but ultimately are not responsible for a full diagnosis.
“Whatever they do they’re going to make sure the person is safe and isn’t going to hurt anyone,” Dickson said. “You’re assessing the patients' thinking, their mood and their behavior.”
If the person is held, Dickson said, after 72 hours the defendant is brought before a judge who decides if the person needs additional mental health attention. The judge can decide to hold the person for another 60 days, but Dickson said that’s rare because people usually are deemed fit to be released before the full two months is over.
About 75 percent of people brought in under Legal 2000 are under the influence of drugs, alcohol, a medical issue, or some other emotional duress, Dickson said. Once they’re detained for a few days in a calm environment, she said, they tend to straighten out.
The concept of something like a legal 2000 isn’t new. Dickson said authorities have been able to commit people for over a century, and every state in the country has a process by which people can be detained for a mental health diagnosis.
For the upcoming legislative session, Dickson said she is helping to craft a bill that would allow outpatient commitment, which is similar to checking in with a probation officer. It would allow a judge to force a defendant to receive regular mental health treatment. Dickson said similar bills were presented before the Legislature in 2009 and 2011 but did not get through.
Definition of Mental Illness, NRS. 433A.115:
As used in NRS 433A.120 to 433A.330, inclusive, unless the context otherwise requires, "mentally ill person" means any person whose capacity to exercise self-control, judgment and discretion in the conduct of his/her affairs and social relations or to care for personal needs is diminished as a result of mental illness to the extent that (s)he presents a clear and present danger of harm to self or others, but does not include any person in whom that capacity is diminished by epilepsy, mental retardation, Alzheimer's disease, brief periods of intoxication caused by alcohol or drugs, or dependence upon or addiction to alcohol or drugs, unless a mental illness that can be diagnosed is also present which contributes to the diminished capacity of the person.
So 75% of "legal 2000's" are worthless pieces of paper according to state law.
Hence why the final determination is made by a doctor. Officer shows up to a call, person has committed no crime but says "when you leave, I will kill myself". Even if the officer can tell the person is drunk or high they can't just leave. Guess who gets sued when that person off's themselves and it comes to light that they told the officer they were going to do that? The city, department the officer.
So even though the law defines that those under brief periods of intoxication caused by alcohol or drugs aren't mentally ill, it is unreasonable to expect an officer to be able to tell if it's the alcohol or the mental illness making the statements to harm themselves or others.
NRS 433A.120 to 433A.330 pretty well describes every politico in the state. Maybe just lock the doors in Carson from the outside when they go into session and we have 'em all rounded up.
Maybe Metro and the NHP can implement L2K on some of the drivers around town?
So who detained Assemblymen Brooks on what grounds? The doctor could not have signed off on the 2nd page on any of those charges, unless they could somehow "prove" that Brooks was addicted to alcohol or drugs. Come on, what are the facts? You cannot hold people against their will in America when they have not committed any crimes.
BeSafest; Not enough rooms to keep them all locked up. Way too many out there among us.