This Memorial Day weekend Chief Chitwood of the Daytona Beach Police Department publicly declared that a US combat veteran, whose firearms and other property the Chief refuses to return, is mentally ill. Chitwood has apparently based this conclusion on his extensive lack of credentials as a mental health professional and as a pretense to justify his illegal standard policy to prevent the return of firearms seized. The law provides a remedy for Chief Chitwood if there were any evidence that the veteran was mentally defective as required under Federal and Florida law. If Chief Chitwood had such evidence it would be a simple matter of asking the courts to declare the veteran mentally defective. Instead he made unsupported statements to a newspaper defaming a veteran of this country.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders states that its use by people without clinical training can lead to inappropriate application of its contents. Appropriate use of the diagnostic criteria is said to require extensive clinical training, and its contents “cannot simply be applied in a cookbook fashion”. The American Psychological Association notes that diagnostic labels are primarily for use as a “convenient shorthand” among professionals. The DSM advises laypersons should consult the DSM only to obtain information, not to make diagnoses…
The State of Florida has procedures for the denial of constitutional rights and the taking of personal property. They require the due process of law, including the testimony of experts in court as to a person’s mental health. The law does not allow law enforcement officers to play amateur psychiatrist, even if they stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. If Chief Chitwood would spent more time learning about the laws he swore to uphold rather than playing unlicensed mental health professional, this case would not have been necessary.
