Posted on 09/09/2017 12:35:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Under the 'Baker Act' law, the homeless can be held up to 72 hours before the state would have to go to court to prolong their detention.
On what is likely the last clear day in Florida before Hurricane Irma's monster wind and rain, social workers and police officers are giving Miami's estimated 1,100 homeless people a stark choice: Come willingly to a storm shelter, or be held against their will for a mental health evaluation.
With the outer edge of the storm approaching Friday, these officials — backed by a psychiatrist and observed by an Associated Press team — rolled through chillingly empty downtown streets as dawn broke over Biscayne Bay, searching for reluctant stragglers sleeping in waterfront parks.
Get the latest on Hurricane Irma from NBC 6 anywhere, anytime.
"We're going out and every single homeless person who is unwilling to come off the street, we are likely going to involuntarily Baker Act them," said Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. Invoking the "Baker Act" — a law that enables authorities to institutionalize patients who present a danger to themselves or others — is not something law enforcement does lightly, but officers detained at least six people by Friday afternoon. Under the law, they can be held up to 72 hours before the state would have to go to court to prolong their detention.
By then, Irma's howling winds and terrifying storm surge should be somewhere north of the city.
"I am not going to sign suicide notes for people who are homeless in my community. I am just not going to do it," Book added. "That's why you have a Baker Act. It's there to protect those who can't otherwise protect themselves."
Book's group was working closely with police, who acknowledged that the effort is unusual: Officials said it is the first time Miami has invoked the law for hurricane preparedness.
About 70 people willingly climbed into white vans and police squad cars Friday, joining others who already arrived at shelters. About 600 others were thought to remain outside somewhere, exposed to the storm, despite mandatory evacuation orders for more than 660,000 people in areas that include downtown Miami and coastal areas throughout the county.
One older man pushing his belongings in an empty wheelchair in Bayfront Park tried to wave them off.
"I don't want nothing," he said, insulting a social worker.
"So you are cool with dying in the streets?" he asked.
"Get out of my goddamn face," he responded.
"What's your name?" asked Dr. Mohammad Nisar, a psychiatrist who was looking for evidence of mental illness, a necessary factor for a Baker Act detention. "None of your damn business!"
Police officer James Bernat intervened.
"We are here to help you. Listen to me. You are being very aggressive. We are trying to help you," Bernat said. "It's very dangerous out here."
"You are trying to make me go somewhere I don't want to go," he insisted.
Finally, the man was handcuffed without a struggle and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation.
"A person who has a history of mental illness and who is staying in harm's way, and doesn't have a logical cohesion of what is right or what is wrong at that point, is a harm to himself, and at that point we can Baker Act them for his own protection," Nisar explained later.
Friday's encounters alone weren't enough to justify their involuntary detention — Nisar said social workers and officers on the team already know these men and can testify to prior signs of mental illness to support each case.
Also, the law requires a court order to keep them detained against their will after 72 hours, and public defenders have pushed back against such requests, citing court rulings that the Baker Act can lead to unconstitutional curtailments of individual liberty.
But those hearings won't happen until Monday at least — and by then, Irma's wrath will have moved on from Miami.
After driving more than 400 people to shelters, the Homeless Trust said it would continue searching for stragglers until winds reach 45 mph (72 kph), sometime Saturday afternoon.
"I am not happy to have to do it," said Steven Nolan, whose face has weathered many days of Florida sunshine. "But I'd rather be in there than out here when the storm hits."
Bottom line...
If they don’t want to go...too bad...this is a crisis and there are thousands of people who need the shelters and want to be there...people who will behavior themselves and cooperate with the volunteers etc and be thankful...
some of the homeless are sex offenders or other anti-social types and might cause harm to the other evacuees... forcing dangerous people into a shelter will not make nice people of them but they might be resentful and angry and looking for a drink...angry enough to lash out at the innocent and at least make life miserable ...desperate for alcohol or drugs enough to rob or attack the other evacuees...
The authorities should consider the populous at large and take them into shelter and leave the crazies to fend for themselves...
I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a shelter with my young children and have hundreds of mentally ill men roaming around at night...
why don’t they just empty out the local loony bin too ???
Oh that’s right they did...years ago...these homeless are some of them...
You voted for Trump? You’re obviously a danger to yourself and others!
Given a choice between having to share a storm shelter with illegal aliens or with “the homeless” who are mostly Americans, some veterans, and mostly black and white, I would choose the homeless. Of course we are told by officials and the press “the homeless” are a threat to us. But when has any authority ever said illegal aliens were a danger to themselves or others? And when was the last time anyone in authority tried to Baker Act THEM? It is known many of them are sexual predators. Again the “official” demonizing of whites and blacks continues, alongside special treatment, aid and benefits galore for the border jumping pricks. This is just the next iteration. You and I are next. See this for what it is.
Not surprised that this is being done.
Three words answer.
Katrina. New Orleans.
Miami does not want a repeat.
“A person who has a history of mental illness and who is staying in harm’s way, and doesn’t have a logical cohesion of what is right or what is wrong at that point, is a harm to himself, and at that point we can Baker Act them for his own protection,” Nisar explained later.
***
Most of the homeless belong in institutions all of the time, as they are not capable of making decisions in their own best interests.
Bums LLC
I’m somewhat torn between the action they are taking and just letting them have their way and take their chances.
The cynical part of me says to just leave them alone and get what they want.
You do know that they will be released after the storm abates, don’t you?
Cant they take this opportunity to ship the homeless to Berkely?
I guess the difference is the homeless often have accompanying mental illness severe enough they don’t comprehend the level of danger.
Second, people staying behind in their secured homes vs. someone homeless on a park bench, ally, dumpster?
Truly I am torn on this and think they are trying to do the right thing.
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