18Handover of person temporarily detained for assessment

18 Handover of person temporarily detained for assessment

(1)  [Section 18 Subsection (1) amended by No. 4 of 2023, s. 52, Applied:25 Sep 2023] An MHO or police officer who temporarily detains a person for the purposes of assessment –

(a) [Section 18 Subsection (1) amended by No. 4 of 2023, s. 52, Applied:25 Sep 2023] must escort the person to an approved assessment centre (or ensure that another MHO or police officer does so) if the person is not already at an approved assessment centre; and

(b) [Section 18 Subsection (1) amended by No. 4 of 2023, s. 52, Applied:25 Sep 2023] may ask any MHO at the approved assessment centre to continue to so detain the person.

(2)  [Section 18 Subsection (2) amended by No. 4 of 2023, s. 52, Applied:25 Sep 2023] An MHO who is asked to continue to detain a person pursuant to subsection (1)(b) must comply with the request unless it would be unsafe in the circumstances to do so.

(3)  [Section 18 Subsection (3) amended by No. 4 of 2023, s. 52, Applied:25 Sep 2023] The temporary detaining of a person for assessment is not taken to have been interrupted or terminated merely because physical control of the person has been handed over from one MHO or police officer to another such officer.