A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to AUTHORIZE COMPANY POLICE OFFICERS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT in ashe county TO USE APPROPRIATE AND REASONABLE FORCE TO KEEP A RESPONDENT AT THE FACILITY WHERE THE RESPONDENT IS TO OBTAIN AN EXAMINATION BY A PHYSICIAN OR PSYCHOLOGIST PURSUANT TO COURT ORDER.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 122C‑263 reads as rewritten:
"§ 122C‑263.  Duties of law‑enforcement officer; first examination by physician or eligible psychologist.
(a)	Without unnecessary delay after assuming custody, the law enforcement officer or the individual designated by the clerk or magistrate under G.S. 122C‑251(g) to provide transportation shall take the respondent to an area facility for examination by a physician or eligible psychologist; if a physician or eligible psychologist is not available in the area facility, the person designated to provide transportation shall take the respondent to any physician or eligible psychologist locally available. If a physician or eligible psychologist is not immediately available, the respondent may be temporarily detained in an area facility, if one is available; if an area facility is not available, the respondent may be detained under appropriate supervision in the respondent's home, in a private hospital or a clinic, in a general hospital, or in a State facility for the mentally ill, but not in a jail or other penal facility. A law enforcement officer or a company police officer employed by a hospital that is certified as a company police agency by the Attorney General and has been granted authority by the Attorney General to commission company police officers under G.S. 74E‑2(b) may use appropriate and reasonable force and means to keep the respondent at the facility or other location where the respondent is to be detained, and if pursuant to a continuous and immediate pursuit, to return the respondent to the facility or other location where the respondent is to be detained.
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SECTION 2.  This act applies to Ashe County only.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.