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Can someone be taken into custody for a mental health evaluation and possible involuntary commitment without any notification before someone actually shows up at their door to take them to a hospital? I ask because of a discussion related to Red Flag laws, and a parallel was drawn between these laws and involuntary commitment. One point brought up was that, with involuntary commitment, a person is aware that a process is occurring prior to them being taken into custody, and I'm not convinced that's true.

A side-question (if appropriate) is if, at the time a person is taken into custody, can police confiscate someone's weapons before the initial evaluation has been completed?

I'm aware that laws in each state are quite diverse, I'm interested mainly if there exists a state in the U.S. where the answer to both is "yes," but if that's too broad I don't mind restricting this question solely to the state of North Carolina.

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  • As we have discussed, it might be best to divide this question at the outset between persons having been alleged to have committed (or planned) a crime and those not. For example, person is acting strangely (out-of-character) versus person planning or threatening to kill. – BobE Aug 13 '19 at 13:50
  • @BobE I'm only asking here specifically about the mental illness scenario. The other scenario to me currently is less interesting, because that isn't all that different from police applying for a no-knock warrant and confiscating items pertinent to a criminal investigation. – Jeff Lambert Aug 13 '19 at 14:04
  • Ok, it wasn't clear to me that you intended mental health eval without a criminal history. Sort of like the neighbor yelling at the kids to "stay offa my lawn". – BobE Aug 13 '19 at 16:44

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