Mental Hygiene Law § 29.19 · Article 29. General Provisions Relating to In-patient Facilities
Powers and duties of peace officers acting pursuant to their special duties and police officers to apprehend, restrain, and transport persons to facilities
Text — Law content up to date as of June 26, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
* § 29.19 Powers and duties of peace officers acting pursuant to their special duties and police officers to apprehend, restrain, and transport persons to facilities.
A person who has been committed or admitted to a department facility or a hospital licensed or operated by the office of mental health and who has been reported as escaped therefrom or from lawful custody, or who resists or evades lawful custody; and any patient for whom the director of a hospital operated by the office of mental health, or the director's designee, has terminated a conditional release and ordered such patient to return to such facility; and any patient for whom a director of an assisted outpatient treatment program, as defined in subdivision (a) of section 9.60 of this chapter, or the director's designee, or anyone designated pursuant to section 9.37 of this chapter, has directed the removal to a hospital pursuant to subdivision (n) of section 9.60 of this chapter, may be apprehended, restrained, transported to, and returned to such school or hospital by any peace officer, acting pursuant to his special duties, or any police officer who is a member of an authorized police department or force or of a sheriff's department, and it shall be the duty of any such officer to assist any representative of a department or licensed facility, or an assisted outpatient treatment program, to take into custody any such person or patient upon the request of such representative, director or designee.
* NB Effective until June 30, 2027 * § 29.19 Powers and duties of peace officers acting pursuant to their
special duties and police officers to apprehend, restrain,
and transport persons to facilities.
A person who has been committed or admitted to a department facility and who has been reported as escaped therefrom or from lawful custody, or who resists or evades lawful custody, may be apprehended, restrained, transported to, and returned to such school or hospital by any peace officer, acting pursuant to his special duties, or any police officer, and it shall be the duty of any such officer to assist any representative of a department facility to take into custody any such person upon the request of such representative.
* NB Effective June 30, 2027
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of June 26, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/MHY29.19
- Text hash
- sha256 38648e94a3deda99a5f65142b28f50c134ad2eadf85fe24fca127b1034405dbb
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
- The Senate's note "Effective June 30, 2027": the later text is printed beside the text in force ("Effective until").
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.