0850.10 Custody, Civil Holds
Refer:
- ORS 426.228 Police Officer Taking Person into Custody – Mental Treatment
- ORS 430.399 – 430.401 Alcoholic Treatment Act
- ORS 430.306 Definitions
- Larry v. Helzer, 2006 WL 1455615
- DIR 0870.20 Custody and Transportation of Subjects
- Civil Hold Form
Definitions:
- Incapacitated Person: A person who has consumed a controlled substance and is unable to make a rational decision as to the acceptance of assistance.
- Public Place: A premise open to the public, such as a sidewalk, street, public parking lot, or business open to the general public. This does not include private residences, or their curtilage such as yards and pathways.
- Treatment Facility: either a designated sobering center operated for the purpose of providing people a safe supervised environment to wait until they are no longer acutely intoxicated, or if a sobering center is unavailable, a hospital emergency room.
Policy:
1. This directive provides procedures and guidance for sworn bureau members on how and when to use civil holds on intoxicated persons.
2. Sworn members have an important responsibility to assist members of the community who are acutely intoxicated and unable to care for themselves or creating a risk to the public. Intoxication itself is not a crime.
3. Members are encouraged to consider alternatives to physical custody when no crime has been committed, and other options are available.
Procedure:
1. Legal Authority: ORS 430.399 provides sworn members the authority to:
1.1. Transport people they have probable cause to believe are intoxicated by a controlled substance, to their home or a treatment facility.
1.2. Transport people they have probable cause to believe are incapacitated, whose health is in immediate danger, or are a danger to themselves or others, as a result of consuming a controlled substance, including alcohol, into custody and transport them to an appropriate sobering or treatment facility.
1.3. The authority granted in ORS 430.399 applies only to a person in a public place.
2. Member Responsibilities:
2.1. When members encounter a person they have probable cause to believe meets the criteria set forth in section 1.2. of this directive they may take them into custody.
2.2. After taking the person into custody, the member shall fill out the civil hold form with the person’s identity, if known, and the basis of the member’s probable cause.
2.3. Members will contact an ambulance to transport the person to the appropriate facility, either an emergency room, or sobering center.
2.3.1. Members will provide the transporting medical personnel with a copy of the Civil Hold form.
2.3.2. Members will follow the transporting ambulance to the destination.
2.3.3. If an ambulance is delayed or unavailable, members may transport the intoxicated person to the appropriate facility in a police vehicle.
2.3.4. The appropriate facility will be determined at the time based on availability, and the medical condition of the person.
2.4. Members will assist in the handoff of the person to the staff at the appropriate treatment facility and provide them a copy of the completed form.
2.5. At the completion of the contact, members will document the custody in an appropriate police report.
3. Criminal charges: Subjects who are intoxicated, incapacitated, or a danger to themselves or others as a result of consumption of a controlled substance who are arrested on criminal charges will either be booked into jail or issued the appropriate criminal citation and transported in accordance with this directive.
Established: 03/01/1975
Effective: 02/24/2024
Next Review Date: 02/24/2026