A Mental Health Crisis and the Police
HRS 334-42 — an officer contacts a mental health emergency worker before detaining someone for an examination
The emergency procedures cover transportation, examination and hospitalization of a person who may be mentally ill or suffering from substance abuse and is imminently dangerous to self or others.
Who handles this in Hawaii: Hawaii Disability Rights Center and Hawaii State Bar Association, Lawyer Referral and Information Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Hawaii directory.
- An officer with a reasonable suspicion that someone is imminently dangerous contacts a mental health emergency worker, and detains the person for an emergency examination where that worker so determines.
- The officer may detain temporarily without reaching a worker only after three attempts by phone, where immediate intervention is needed, and must contact one as soon as possible and document why.
- The person goes directly to a psychiatric or designated facility, or to the nearest emergency department in a medical emergency, and the officer files a detailed application.
- A person found not to meet the criteria for involuntary hospitalization is discharged expeditiously.
The facility makes reasonable efforts to notify family, including a reciprocal beneficiary, unless an adult patient waives it.
Sources for this section (4)
- HRS 334-41 — Emergency procedures
- HRS 334-42 — Emergency transportation initiated by a law enforcement officer
- HRS 334-45 — Emergency examination
- HRS 334-47 — Notice of emergency transportation, examination, and hospitalization
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Hawaii attorney.