Section 172-B:3 Treatment and Services. - New Hampshire Statutes

   I. When a peace officer encounters a person who, in the judgment of the officer, is intoxicated as defined in RSA 172-B:1, X, the officer may take such person into protective custody and shall take whichever of the following actions is, in the judgment of the officer, the most appropriate to ensure the safety and welfare of the public, the individual, or both:
      (a) Assist the person, if he consents, to his home, an approved alcohol treatment program, or some other appropriate location; or
      (b) Release the person to some other person assuming responsibility for the intoxicated person; or
      (c) Lodge the person in a local jail or county correctional facility for said person's protection, for up to 24 hours or until the keeper of said jail or facility judges the person to be no longer intoxicated.
   II. When a peace officer encounters a person who, in the judgment of the officer, is incapacitated as defined in RSA 172-B:1, IX, the officer may take such person into protective custody and shall take whichever of the following actions is, in the judgment of the officer, the most appropriate to ensure the safety and welfare of the public, the individual, or both:
      (a) Transport the person to an approved alcohol treatment program with detoxification capabilities or to the emergency room of a licensed general hospital for treatment, except that if a designated alcohol counselor exists in the vicinity and is available, the person may be released to the counselor at any location mutually agreeable between the officer and the counselor. The period of protective custody shall end when the person is released to a designated alcohol counselor, a clinical staff person of an approved alcohol treatment program with detoxification capabilities, or a professional medical staff person at a licensed general hospital emergency room. The person may be released to his own devices if at any time the officer judges him to be no longer incapacitated. Protective custody shall in no event exceed 24 hours.
      (b) Lodge the person in protective custody in a local jail or county correctional facility for up to 24 hours, or until judged by the keeper of the facility to be no longer incapacitated, or until a designated alcohol counselor has arranged transportation for the person to an approved alcohol treatment program with detoxification capabilities or to the emergency room of a licensed general hospital.
   III. No person shall be lodged in a local jail or county correctional facility under paragraph II unless the person in charge of the facility, immediately upon lodging said person in protective custody, contacts a designated alcohol counselor, a clinical staff person of an approved alcohol treatment program with detoxification capabilities or a professional medical staff person at a licensed general hospital emergency room to determine whether said person is indeed incapacitated. If, and only if none of the foregoing are available, such a medical or clinical determination shall be made by a registered nurse or registered emergency medical technician on the staff of the detention facility.
   IV. No local jail or county correctional facility shall refuse to admit an intoxicated or incapacitated person in protective custody whose admission is requested by a peace officer, in compliance with the conditions of this section.
   V. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, whenever a person under 18 years of age who is judged by a peace officer to be intoxicated or incapacitated and who has not been charged with a crime is taken into protective custody, if no needed treatment is available, his parent or guardian shall be immediately notified and such person may be held at a police station or a local jail or a county correctional facility in a room or ward separate from any adult or any person charged with juvenile delinquency until the arrival of his parent or guardian. If such person has no parent or guardian in the area, arrangements shall be made to house him according to the provisions of RSA 169-D:17.
   VI. If an incapacitated person in protective custody is lodged in a local jail or county correctional facility his family or next of kin shall be notified as promptly as possible. If the person requests that there be no notification, his request shall be respected.
   VII. A taking into protective custody under this section is not an arrest, however nothing in this section shall be construed so as to prevent an officer or jailer from obtaining proper identification from a person taken into protective custody or from conducting a search of such person to reduce the likelihood of injury to the officer or jailer, the person taken into protective custody, or others. No unnecessary or unreasonable force or means of restraint may be used in detaining any person taken into protective custody.
   VIII. Peace officers or persons responsible for supervision in a local jail or designated alcohol counselors who act under the authority of this section are acting in the course of their official duty and are not criminally or civilly liable therefor, unless for gross negligence or willful or wanton injury.

Source. 1979, 378:2. 1988, 89:20. 1989, 285:10, eff. July 28, 1989.