Can police take a person with mental illness to hospital?
Mental Health Act · sources read 5 Oct 2026
Yes. A police officer of inspector rank or above, an OCS, an administrative officer, a chief or an assistant chief may take into custody a person they believe has a mental illness and is dangerous, or not cared for, or being neglected or mistreated. Police must deliver the person to a health facility within 24 hours.
- Deadline
- Police must deliver the person to a health facility within 24 hours
- Where
- The nearest police station or the local chief's office; the person is then taken to a health facility
Steps
- Report to a police station (the OCS or an officer of inspector rank or above), or to the local chief, assistant chief or administrative officer. They have the power to take the person into custody.
- The police must take the person to a health facility within 24 hours.
- At the facility, the person in charge must have them examined to decide whether to admit them as an involuntary patient or hand them over to their supporter, representative or, for a child, their guardian, and arrange treatment and care.
Watch out
- If it is disputed, the police officer has to prove the person was delivered to a health facility.
- Only these officers have this power: police of inspector rank or above, the officer in charge of a police station, administrative officers, chiefs and assistant chiefs, within their own area.
Who this covers
- A person believed to have a mental illness who is dangerous to themselves or others, or acts in a way offensive to public decency
- A person believed to have a mental illness who is not under proper care, or is being treated cruelly or neglected by a relative or carer
Official sources (1)
- Mental Health Act (Cap. 248) new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026