They recommended that "incidents of aberrant, dangerous, or threatening behavior must be documented and reported immediately to a college's threat assessment group, and must be acted upon in a prompt and effective manner to protect the safety of the campus community."
The panelists also recommended the following steps at the state level:
- Amendment of laws to extend time periods for temporary detention for mental health evaluations, and to give magistrates authority to issue temporary detention orders on the basis of the recommendations of emergency physicians trained in psychiatric evaluations.
- Revising criteria for involuntary commitment to promote more consistent application of the standard and allow involuntary treatment for a broader range of cases involving severe mental illness
- Increased capacity of secure crisis stabilization units.
- Clearer definition of the role of independent mental health evaluators and better access to medical and mental health records.
- Amending health privacy laws to include a "safe harbor" provision that would protect health providers from liability or funding loss when they disclosed information in connection with mental health evaluations and commitment hearings.
The full report of the Virginia Tech Review panel is available free of charge at the Commonwealth of Virginia web site.
