Originally Posted by
Stickman
If officers felt the individual was a threat to himself or others, then can involuntarily commit an individual.
I think you are being a little simplistic about involuntary committals by police. I've done a few. At the scene, unless they are behaving in such a manner that you can seize (arrest) them and transport via ambulance or patrol unit, you generally need to talk them into to going to the ER with you and have a doctor put them in for psych evaluation. Otherwise you need to get to the judge and get an order.
As for this statement -If officers were dispatched 26 times for crazy violent behavior, and never did anything, I'll call BS on their lack of being able to take any action - I would imagine that you and I share essentially the same work ethic when it comes down to doing our jobs. In other words, if something needed to be done, we'd figure a way to get it done. I'd imagine, that just like me, you've cut a lot of paper on deals where other officers wouldn't because something told you that it would be needed in the future. You have to be honest and admit that a lot of officers shine stuff on if they can, even if they can get an arrest out of the deal. They, like many folks in other professions, simply avoid the work that doesn't have to be done. Then you have the officers that don't have the knowledge base to figure their way through situations.
The reason that I am not necessarily opposed to the red flag act is that it mandates officers take action, establishing a responsibility which can come back and bite them on the ass if they don't take action. That motivates the slackers and the good ol' boys. Additionally, it gives officers who aren't particularly agile in thought, a cookie crumb procedural path. The other thing is that such acts also give citizens a roadmap to accessing the court system.
As far as the due process thing goes, there still has to be a finding of probable cause. Essentially it is the same process you go through to arrest someone with a warrant, except you are arresting their firearms, and there is a mandatory hold until the firearms can be bonded.
Some folks have complained that the possessor of the firearms isn't given an opportunity to defend themselves before the gun is taken. I don't know about you guys in the PNW, but down here on the Plains, we don't call guys and say 'hey, I'm getting ready to take an affidavit over for a warrant on you, get on over here so you can tell your side of the story and try to talk the judge out of it.'
Last edited by 26 Inf; 03-31-19 at 19:16.
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President... - Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln and Free Speech, Metropolitan Magazine, Volume 47, Number 6, May 1918.
Every Communist must grasp the truth. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party Mao Zedong, 6 November, 1938 - speech to the Communist Patry of China's sixth Central Committee
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