MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Blackmon
AN ACT TO REQUIRE A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO PROVIDE AN ARRESTED INDIVIDUAL WHO REASONABLY APPEARS TO EXHIBIT BEHAVIORAL OR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES A MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATION WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE INDIVIDUAL'S ARREST; TO REQUIRE A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER TO TAKE THE INDIVIDUAL TO A MEDICAL FACILITY FOR TREATMENT; TO REQUIRE AT LEAST TWO EMPLOYEES OF EVERY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY AND JAIL OR PRISON TO RECEIVE ANNUAL CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAM (CIT) TRAINING; TO REQUIRE THE BOARD ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING TO PROMULGATE RULES RELATING TO CIT TRAINING; TO AMEND SECTION 41-21-139, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING SECTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) Whenever a law enforcement officer arrests an individual who reasonably appears to exhibit behavioral or mental health issues, the law enforcement agency must provide the individual with a mental health evaluation by a physician, psychiatric nurse practitioner or psychiatric physician assistant within twenty-four (24) hours of arrest. If the mental health evaluation reveals that a person has a mental illness as defined by Section 41-21-61, the law enforcement agency must take the necessary steps provided in Section 41-21-139(5) to ensure that the individual has access to the medication and must take the individual to a medical facility for appropriate treatment.
(2) In order to facilitate the mental health evaluation and treatment required by subsection (1) of this section, every law enforcement agency, including every city, county and regional jail or prison, must employ at least two (2) persons who have received Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training. Those employees shall participate in at least eight (8) hours of CIT training annually.
(3) The Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training shall promulgate rules and regulations to establish minimum standards for CIT training, including the approval of schools or programs that may be attended by an officer charged with receiving CIT training.
SECTION 2. Section 41-21-139, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-21-139. (1) If a CIT officer determines that a person is with substantial likelihood of bodily harm, that officer may take the person into custody for the purpose of transporting the person to the designated single point of entry serving the catchment area in which the officer works. The CIT officer shall certify in writing the reasons for taking the person into custody.
(2) A CIT officer shall have no further legal responsibility or other obligations once a person taken into custody has been transported and received at the single point of entry.
(3) A CIT officer acting in good faith in connection with the detention of a person believed to be with substantial likelihood of bodily harm shall incur no liability, civil or criminal, for those acts.
(4) Except as otherwise provided by House Bill No. 309, 2020 Regular Session, only CIT officers authorized to operate within a catchment area may bring persons in custody to the single point of entry for that catchment area. Law enforcement officers working outside the designated catchment area are not authorized to transport any person into the catchment area for the purpose of bringing that person to the single point of entry.
(5) Any person transported by a CIT officer to the single point of entry or any person referred by the community mental health center following guidelines of the collaborative agreements shall be examined by a physician, psychiatric nurse practitioner or psychiatric physician assistant. If the person does not consent to voluntary evaluation and treatment, and the examiner determines that the person is a mentally ill person, as defined in Section 41-21-61(e), the examiner shall then determine if that person can be held under the provisions of Section 41-21-67(5). All other provisions of Section 41-21-67(5) shall apply and be extended to include licensed psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychiatric physician assistants employed by the single point of entry, including protection from liability, as provided in this section, when acting in good faith. If the examiner determines that the person is with substantial likelihood of bodily harm because of impairment caused by drugs or alcohol and determines that there is no reasonable, less-restrictive alternative, the person may be held at the single point of entry until the impairment has resolved and the person is no longer with substantial likelihood of bodily harm. Persons acting in good faith in connection with the detention of a person with impairment caused by drugs or alcohol shall incur no liability, civil or criminal, for those acts.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.