that's precisely that delicate and difficult balance between individual rights and public safety.  Any coercive power includes, unfortunately, the possibility that it will be misused.  We've chosen to favor individual rights based on, as you note, the abuse of coercive power by the "state."  We now have tens of thousands of seriously mentally ill individuals on the streets of our communities.  It's, IMO, a real quandry.....which is preferable...the chance of abuse or large numbers of untreated and often homeless mentally ill individuals?  Gary Crum